Uber to invest $1B in India after investing another billion in China
Uber recently announced that it has allo9cated $1 billion to expand its operations in China. Like that is not big enough, the company will also be setting aside another $1 billion to strengthen its business in India.
Based on the company's latest financing, the giant U.S. taxi service app is valued at $40 billion. It is aggressively moving to the world's two most populous countries to compete against its domestic rivals, India's Ola, and China's Didi Kiauidi. Both of these local companies have taxi app player SoftBank as one of its investors. Expanding to these countries is a great move to take advantage of the increasing smartphone sales in India and China.
According to reports, Uber gets 1 million rides every day in China. Their $1 billion allocation in India is expected to bring the numbers to the same level as its China operations. Uber India has a growth rate of 40 percent every month, said its president Amit Jain. With the investment and the growth rate, the company is expected to have one million trips per day in India in the next six to nine months, he said. Jain recently took the role as Uber India's president in May.
There are some 1.2 billion people in India, and Uber India is also planning to extend its services to 18 cities outside of the country, making India the biggest geographic market for the company. Next to it is the United States.
Just this Wednesday, Uber launched an auto leasing subsidiary to sign up more drivers. Earlier in August, a Delhi court lifted a ban on Uber, making it easier for the company to operate there and apply for a licence.
Jain said in a statement that they are extremely bullish in the Indian market and see great potential in the country.