Currently in investment mode, India to be profitable soon: Uber

Firm wants ‘outcome-focused regulation’ from government

Cab aggregator Uber Technologies Inc. Expects India to be among its profitable markets soon and is looking to add more modes of transport on the platform amid efforts to deal with service quality issues such as driver cancellations, according to a senior company official.

The company is seeking ‘outcome-focused regulation’ from the government, including reviewing some State-specific rules such as need for printers and physical meters in taxis. It is also advocating speedy implementation of code on social security as well as allowing two-wheeler and three-wheeler on platforms such as Uber across the country.

“India is a long term investment market for us,” Pradeep Parameswaran, Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific at Uber, told reporters at an interaction at the company’s office here.

“We are nearly 1,000 engineers in India building for the world. We have a large business presence...and have a very competitive market position against a pretty fierce local competitor,” he added.

He added that while the company was still in an investment mode, but “our unit economics has improved dramatically in the last few quarters. So I feel very, very good about where we are on that journey. And over time, I have no doubt that India will be a high growth market which will also be profitable...it's a steady march. I don't have exact timeline on when we will be profitable in India. But I'd say it's not it's not that far away.”

He noted that while India has been one of our better markets to work in from a regulatory standpoint, there are a “few pockets here and there” that still need to evolve.

Mike Orgill, Senior Director, Public Policy & Government Relations, APAC at Uber added that Code on Social Security is a great example of where a policy decision was made very quickly. However, the challenge now is getting the implementation done. “...not every country has figured out the issue of gig work and treatment...Australia has just starting to talk about it....India has a real opportunity to lead the world on this.”