via TechCrunch AI
OpenAI Poaches Uber India Chief to Lead Its Largest Market Outside the US
OpenAI is making another high-profile bet on India, appointing former Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh as its first managing director for the country. The move is part of a broader push to scale operations in what OpenAI has called its second-largest market after the United States.
Singh announced his resignation from Uber on Friday and will join OpenAI in September, reporting to Kiran Mani, the company’s managing director for Asia Pacific. OpenAI told TechCrunch that Singh will oversee the company’s performance in India across consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations.
## Expanding Footprint
The hire marks OpenAI’s latest investment in India. The company opened its first office in New Delhi in August 2025 and has since announced plans to establish new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. In 2024, OpenAI hired former Truecaller and Meta executive Pragya Misra to lead public policy and partnerships before expanding her role to head of strategy and global affairs. Earlier, the company brought on former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly as a senior adviser to help shape its engagement with the Indian government on AI policy.
## Strategic Partnerships and Infrastructure
Over the past few months, OpenAI has forged partnerships in India spanning higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered commerce, and web streaming. The company has also become part of the country’s rapidly expanding data center build-out, underscoring India’s growing importance as a hub for generative AI infrastructure.
OpenAI has pointed to India’s surging ChatGPT adoption as a key indicator of market potential. Notably, users aged 18 to 24 account for nearly 50% of ChatGPT usage in India, according to the company. Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group are among its early partners in the country.
## Hiring Push
OpenAI has simultaneously ramped up hiring in India, with open roles including AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, a developer marketing lead, a partner director, and solutions engineers.
## Competitive Landscape
India has become a critical battleground for U.S. AI companies, driven by its vast developer base, more than a billion internet users, and rising demand for generative AI. Rival Anthropic opened its India office in Bengaluru in late 2025 and earlier this year named former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its India head, signaling intensifying competition for talent and market share in the region.