Taxi hailing company Uber to build new centre in Hyderabad for Rs 317 crore

NEW DELHI: Online taxi-hailing company Uber has committed $50 million (Rs 317 crore) over 5 years for a new centre in Hyderabad, its largest office outside the US.

Under a memorandum of understanding it signed with the Telangana government, Uber plans to hire about 500 people for this facility, meant primarily to train its drivers and customer support staff. Its India customer support team already operates out of Hyderabad.

Uber will also collaborate with Telangana Academy for Skills and Knowledge to identify and train more than 2,000 drivers by the end of 2016, who will then drive on its platform, the company said in a statement on Monday. The company expects its new center in Hyderabad to be operational in the next 6-10 months.

Uber in December committed to invest about $500 million in its India operations. Since then, the company said it has grown at 40% month-on-month in each of the 11 large cities it operated in.

The taxi-booking app in April appointed Amit Jain, a former top executive at US-based Rent-.com, as its first India head, signalling it was increasing focus on the country, its largest market outside the US.