Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi feels that India is one of the toughest markets for the company to grow.
During an interaction with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani in Bengaluru on the subject of ‘Building Population Scale Technology,’ Khosrowshahi explained why India is a challenging market.
"India is one of the toughest markets out there; they are so demanding and do not pay for anything. If we can succeed here, we can succeed anywhere else," he said.
“This is also the best of times for Uber in India and I am proud of the team here. This is my first visit to India in four years and it is absolutely extraordinary as things have changed here and India is racing forward in many things.”
Khosrowshahi said he has been running Uber for the last seven years and when came to the helm of affairs in 2017, it was having a very tough time, including facing problems like cultural issues and leadership transformation.
The Uber CEO said before he joined, there were 14 CEOs, and when he joined although the company was undergoing a rough patch, the talent in the organisation was extraordinary, and that helped the company perform well.
Recalling his conversation with Uber staff members Nilkeani said he was told by an Uber staff member that he got a smartphone because of Uber.
“I was in New York in Feb 2008 and I had gone to meet a friend of mine who was a geeky guy who kept a tab of new things. He requested a cab for me by just tapping on his phone and a cab appeared in the next two minutes. Post that I really got hooked on to Uber and I use it whenever I travel outside the country though in India I have the luxury of traveling with a driver,” said Nilekani.
Khosrowshahi said companies and governments around the world can learn from the scale and ambition of India’s digital public infrastructure. He added that as a technology company, Uber views open-source tech stacks with a lot of interest and recognizes the opportunities they bring for everyone. “One of the unique elements of India is this digital public infrastructure that has been built but continues to be built on top of.”
He praised the effort of Nilekani as the man behind the digital public infrastructure. He said companies such as Uber can engage better with customers because of this infrastructure.
During the event, Uber signed an MoU with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to explore an integration with the network to expand the range of mobility offerings on the Uber app. The agreement with ONDC, a private non-profit organisation established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of the Government of India, is aimed at strengthening the company's mission of bringing safe, affordable and reliable rides to all Indians.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Khosrowshahi and Nilekani by Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia, and T. Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC.
Uber entered India in 2013 and over the last decade, it has completed 3 billion trips in the country. It is available across 125 cities in India.
