Uber to invest $1 billion in India: FT

But Uber India president Amit Jain said the company was recording growth of 40 per cent month-on-month in its biggest market outside of the United States.

Uber said India and China are its priority markets.

Taxi-hailing app Uber has committed $1 billion (Rs 6,400 crore) in investment in India over the next nine months, just days after ET broke the news that rival Ola is in talks to raise at least $500 million.

Uber’s investment in India follows the same in China, where it put in $1 billion to grab marketshare away from market leader Didi Kuaidi, which is funded by Alibaba and Tencent.

Uber said that this will help the taxi-hailing app reach over 1 million trips per day in the next six to nine months.

India was the second country globally (after the US) where Uber introduced a bespoke vehicle financing program for partner drivers thus creating a breed of driver entrepreneurs.

The company said Friday it was making a new investment of US$1 billion in the country over the next nine months. Its revenue run rate stands at about $250 million, reports Business Standard. The company also expects to support over 200,000 jobs in India by 2016.

In India, Uber has been at odds with authorities in the capital, New Delhi, where the government banned its services after an Uber driver was accused of rape in December.

Uber’s push is reminiscent of Amazon’s own foray into India, which ignited last year when the U.S. firm pledged to spend billion in the country. Consequently, Uber tied up with mobile wallet provider Paytm to continue operations in India.

Earlier this year, Uber decided to accept cash payments in Hyderabad, a first in its global operations.

The taxi aggregator startup is taking on homegrown, SoftBank-backed Ola which is said to be closing yet another funding round from its investors including Japan’s SoftBank and New York-based Tiger Global.