Uber to set up $50-mn facility in Hyderabad.

In what is Uber's first major investment in India, its largest market after the US, the company will invest $50 million (Rs 317 crore) in building a response and support centre in Hyderabad. The investment will be spread through five years and the facility will be the taxi-aggregator’s largest international office. Through its research capabilities, the company is exploring ways to collaborate with the government on the smart-city initiative.

Last week, Uber said it had started operations in seven more Indian cities, raising the total to 18. This makes its India operations larger than those in China, Germany and the UK.

Though the company has become a force to reckon with globally, in India, it faces stiff competition from the SoftBank-backed Ola (formerly Ola Cabs). Ola, which acquired taxi aggregator TaxiForSure for $200 million in March this year, has operations in about 100 cities.

Uber’s new facility will act as a centralised response and support centre for the thousands of drivers on its network, as well as for its customers. So far, local offices in each city addressed consumer and partner queries and grievances. Some customer complaints were also being addressed through the company’s support office in the Philippines.

Uber, which had committed to invest at least $1 billion in India and China this year, did not specify when the Hyderabad centre would be functional. It has ruled out setting up a call centre for its customers.

A centralised centre can cater to Uber’s expanding operations in the country in a better manner, as well as cut the response time. It will also handle the company’s internal operations such as salary processing. While Uber employs 100 people as of now, this is expected to rise to 500.

BS