Uber appoints Arnab Kumar director of business development for India & South Asia

Ride-sharing platform Uber on Thursday stated it has appointed Arnab Kumar as director of business growth for India and South Asia.

Kumar has had earlier stints at cryptocurrency change Coinbase, funding fund Prosus Ventures, and at Indian assume tank Niti Aayog, the place he labored on India’s Covid contact tracing app Aarogya Setu.

“During his work at Niti Aayog he delivered impact and change at scale. Under his leadership, our business development team will continue to be a key accelerant for our partnerships and new growth opportunities.” stated Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia

Arnab has additionally labored for Deutsche Bank as an funding banker in Singapore and New York. An alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology Mesra and Indian School of Business Hyderabad, he’s additionally a CFA charterholder.

“India and South Asia present tremendous growth potential and I look forward to joining forces with the incredibly talented team at Uber and supporting the company’s growth ambitions in this important region,” Kumar stated.

Kumar’s appointment as director of business growth for the area has come at a time when Uber has been doubling down on its business and company partnerships in India. Earlier this 12 months, Uber and Tata Motors agreed to produce 25,000 electrical autos to fleet operators on the ride-hailing platform.

Further, it entered into partnerships with a number of stakeholders within the EV ecosystem similar to fleet operators Everest Fleet, Lithium Urban Technologies and Moove. It additionally has tie-ups with Zypp Electric for deploying two-wheeler bike taxis, and Jio-bp and GMR Green Energy for fast-charging Uber EVs.

“With a partnership approach to different stakeholders in the value chain like EV fleets, financiers, EV infrastructure providers and government bodies, Uber has been at the forefront of EV transition in India,” the corporate stated in a press release.

In June, Uber additionally led a $20 million funding spherical in Everest Fleet, one in all its key fleet companions, which manages 13,000 autos throughout seven cities in India.

The firm earlier this week introduced ‘Group Rides’ function in India with an purpose to enhance affordability and comfort for its customers. The function, which permits three folks to share a experience to a typical vacation spot, is predicted to collectively scale back riders’ fare by as much as 30%.

Globally, Uber has stated it expects rising demand for experience hailing owing to robust leisure journey tendencies and gradual return to places of work.

“Robust demand, new growth initiatives, and continued cost discipline resulted in an excellent quarter, with trips up 22% and a GAAP operating profit, for the first time in Uber’s history,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated.

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