Uber on Thursday announced that it has appointed Prabhjeet Singh as the new President of India and South Asia. Singh will eventually replace Padeep Parameswaran, who was promoted last month to the position of General Manager of Asia Pacific region; charging Parameswaran with the daunting responsibility of overseeing Uber’s business in Asia pacific region.
Singh has worked with the US based ride-hailing major for almost five years, mostly working as Director-Operations and Head of Cities. Under his supervision, the ride-hailing company has witnessed sporadic growth to spread its wings across several Indian cities.
Before joining Uber in 2015, Singh worked as an Associate partner of Mckinsey and Company and Senior Analyst at Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt during 2008-09 financial crises.
“I am thrilled to have been given the responsibility of leading Uber in India and South Asia and look forward to collaborate with exceptional team and gifted colleagues across the Uber family to strengthen our service and product offerings,” Singh said in a statement.
In his role, Singh will directly report to Parameswaran and will be responsible for propelling the company’s growth in a region (Indian & South Asia) that is unarguably among important markets for Uber. Over the years, U.S based ride-hailing giant has been trying to grow expediently in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh despite exiting from regions – namely China and Southeast Asian region.
Singh’s appointment has come barely weeks after Uber India decided to close down its Mumbai office as part of global cost-cutting measure, in response to economic challenges triggered by pandemic crises.
While coronavirus crises has badly hit Uber and entire ride-hailing industry’s business, Uber was already fishing in troubled waters even before pandemic had reared its ugly head. In order to streamline its balance sheet and keep its investors happy, the company sold its Indian food delivery business to Zomato earlier this year. The company also exited from food delivery business in other Asian markets as well.
Uber’s shares are currently trading at $32.81 at NYSE, way below than its IPO share price at $45.