Uber adding new features to make it big in India: report
28 Nov 2016
US-based Taxi aggregation platform Uber is looking to make India the hub of its South Asian operations after it lost its China business to local rival. Uber is now looking to expands into other parts of the South Asia region, reports quoting its country head said.
Uber, which launched operations in Bangladesh capitals Dhaka in November, said instead of expanding to more cities and towns it would add new features to make the service more attractive, the company's South Asia president Amit Jain was quoted as saying.
Uber, which exited China after the sale of its operations there to local competitor Didi Chuxing, said it would not expand beyond the 29 cities in which it currently operates, The Economic Times quoted him as saying.
Already, India is the second-largest market for Uber after the United States and Jain said the company is planning to launch new features for the Indian market and is investing ''in all aspects'' of its business in India.
''We are also building a product and engineering team in Bengaluru that will over the next six months or so go to a size of 100 people,'' he said. ''The team in the country has grown significantly from 100 people 12 months ago to 800 people now,'' the report quoted Jain as saying.
According to the report, some of the features that Uber has planned for the Indian market include integration of the company's apps with people's digital calendars, users searching for acquaintances via their contacts list and booking rides in advance.
Head of Strategy and Planning for the company Prabhajeet Singh said many of the features are unique to India and that the new features are being introduced based on feedback from riders and drivers associated with the company, The Indian Express reported.
The company has also opened its programming interface to developers and is partnering with third-party aggregators to provide Uber rides in bulk to people planning their weddings.
In August, the California-based company introduced its ''Dial an Uber'' allowing potential riders to book a taxi through a mobile website. It also announced a new feature allowing the users of its mobile applications to book a cab for a person in a different location.