OpenAI poaches Uber India chief to lead its biggest market outside the U.S.
OpenAI has appointed Prabhjeet Singh, former Uber India president, as its first managing director for India, signaling a major expansion in its second-largest market. This strategic hire underscores OpenAI's commitment to growing its presence and operations across consumer, enterprise, and regulatory sectors in India.
OpenAI has announced the appointment of Prabhjeet Singh, formerly president of Uber India and South Asia, as its inaugural managing director for India. Singh, who will report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI's managing director for Asia-Pacific, is set to join the company in September. His mandate includes overseeing consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and overall operations in India, a market OpenAI considers its second largest after the U.S.
This executive hire is the latest in a series of strategic investments by OpenAI in India. The company established its first Indian office in New Delhi last August and has plans to open additional offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Previously, OpenAI brought on Pragya Misra to lead public policy and partnerships, expanding her role to head of strategy and global affairs, and engaged former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly as a senior adviser for government relations.
OpenAI's expansion in India also involves significant partnerships across various sectors, including higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered commerce, and web streaming. The company has actively participated in the country's burgeoning data center development. The rapid adoption of ChatGPT in India has highlighted the market's strategic importance, further solidified by early partnerships with major Indian conglomerates like Reliance and Tata Group.
India is fast becoming a crucial battleground for U.S. AI firms, driven by a large developer community, over a billion internet users, and escalating demand for generative AI technologies. OpenAI has been actively recruiting for roles such as AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, and a developer marketing lead. Rival company Anthropic also established an office in Bengaluru in late 2025 and named Irina Ghose, former Microsoft India managing director, as its India head, underscoring the competitive landscape in this key market.
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