OpenAI India Appoints Former Uber Chief Prabhjeet Singh to Lead Second-Largest Market

OpenAI poaches Uber India chief to lead its biggest market outside the U.S.

OpenAI is making yet another big, visible bet on India. It has appointed former Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh as its first managing director for the country to scale its presence in what it has called its second-largest market after the U.S. Singh, who announced his resignation from Uber on Friday, will join OpenAI in September and report to Kiran Mani, the company's managing director for Asia-Pacific, the company told TechCrunch. He will be responsible for OpenAI's performance in India across consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations, the company said. The hire marks OpenAI's latest investment in India. The company opened its first office in New Delhi last August and earlier this year said it would establish new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. In 2024, it 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 last year. OpenAI had earlier brought on former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly as a senior adviser to help establish its engagement with the Indian government on AI policy. Over the past few months, OpenAI struck partnerships in the nation spanning higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered commerce, and web streaming, while also becoming part of the country's growing data center build-out. OpenAI has pointed to India's rapidly growing adoption of ChatGPT as a sign of the market's importance. Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group are also among its early partners in the market. The company has simultaneously ramped up hiring in India, with openings including AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, a developer marketing lead, a partner director, and solutions engineers. India has emerged as one of the key battlegrounds for U.S. AI companies, driven by its vast developer base, more than a billion internet users, and surging 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.

OpenAI Deepens India Bet, Hires Ex-Uber Executive To Drive Growth, Partnerships - Uber Technologies (NYSE

Singh will join the artificial intelligence company in September, becoming the most senior executive in the region, Bloomberg reported. He will report to Asia Pacific Managing Director Kiran Mani and will "oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations, and will lead efforts to expand partnerships and support the country's artificial intelligence ecosystem," Bloomberg noted. Singh left Uber last week after more than 10 years at the company. He most recently led the transportation network company's efforts in India and South Asia -- working to "leapfrog private vehicle ownership, embrace sustainable mobility and enable livelihood for millions of earners who use the Uber platform to earn flexibility, " Singh's LinkedIn profile stated. More OpenAI Management, Staffing Changes OpenAI has been on a hiring spree as of late. Earlier this month, the company hired White House artificial intelligence adviser Dean Ball, adding a policy-focused hire in a new team buildout. Other recent hires at OpenAI include former Ironclad CEO Jason Boehmig, who will lead its product team responsible for building products for the legal industry, and former Salesforce AgentExchange CEO Brian Landsman as its vice president of global partnerships. Clint Gibler announced on X that he has joined the company as a member of the technical staff, working with Michael Aiello, OpenAI's head of product for cyber. Denise Dresser, who led Salesforce's Slack business as CEO, departed the company in December to become OpenAI's chief revenue officer, The Information reported. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

OpenAI Appoints Former Uber India Chief Prabhjeet Singh as India Managing Director

As the company's senior-most executive in India, he will be responsible for driving business growth, expanding enterprise adoption, strengthening strategic partnerships, engaging with policymakers, and overseeing OpenAI's overall operations in the country. OpenAI has appointed former Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh as its Managing Director for India, marking one of the company's most strategic leadership appointments in the country to date. The move comes as OpenAI significantly expands its commercial, enterprise, and policy engagement in India, one of the fastest-growing markets for generative artificial intelligence. Singh will join OpenAI in September and report to Kiran Mani, Managing Director for Asia Pacific. As the company's senior-most executive in India, he will be responsible for driving business growth, expanding enterprise adoption, strengthening strategic partnerships, engaging with policymakers, and overseeing OpenAI's overall operations in the country. The appointment highlights OpenAI's long-term commitment to India, where demand for AI-powered tools is rising rapidly across enterprises, startups, educational institutions, developers, and government organizations. India Emerges as a Strategic Growth Market India has quickly become one of OpenAI's largest and fastest-growing user markets globally. The rapid adoption of generative AI across industries, coupled with the country's thriving startup ecosystem and vast developer community, has made India central to OpenAI's international expansion strategy. Businesses across sectors including banking, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, information technology, and public services are increasingly integrating AI into customer engagement, software development, productivity, automation, and decision-making. Against this backdrop, OpenAI is strengthening its local leadership to accelerate enterprise adoption while expanding collaborations with businesses and institutions. In his new role, Singh will work closely with customers, partners, startups, educational institutions, developers, and government bodies to help organizations deploy AI responsibly and unlock new business opportunities through advanced AI technologies. A Proven Leader in Scaling Technology Businesses Singh joins OpenAI after spending nearly 11 years at Uber, where he played a pivotal role in transforming the company's business across India and South Asia. As President, India and South Asia, he led operations across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, overseeing one of Uber's largest international markets. During his leadership, Uber expanded beyond ride-hailing by scaling services such as Uber Auto, Uber Moto, and Uber Shuttle, while also strengthening its focus on electric mobility, affordability, and multimodal transportation solutions. He was instrumental in building partnerships with India's digital public infrastructure, including the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), helping drive innovation in the country's mobility ecosystem. His ability to scale technology-driven businesses, manage complex market dynamics, and build strategic partnerships is expected to play a key role in OpenAI's next phase of growth in India. Strong Foundation in Strategy and Digital Transformation An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad, Singh combines strong analytical capabilities with deep operational expertise, making him well positioned to lead OpenAI's expansion in one of the world's most dynamic technology markets. Strengthening OpenAI's Enterprise and AI Ecosystem The appointment comes at a time when OpenAI is expanding its global footprint through enterprise solutions, strategic partnerships, and investments in AI infrastructure. Over the past year, the company has accelerated the rollout of AI products for businesses, developers, and educational institutions while strengthening collaborations with governments and industry partners worldwide. India is expected to play a crucial role in this strategy. The country's large pool of software developers, digital-first enterprises, AI startups, and technology talent presents significant opportunities for OpenAI to expand the adoption of generative AI across industries. Industry experts believe Singh's experience in building large-scale technology businesses and fostering public-private collaborations will help OpenAI deepen its presence in India while supporting organizations as they adopt AI to improve productivity, drive innovation, and create new digital experiences. Looking Ahead Prabhjeet Singh's appointment represents more than a leadership change. It signals OpenAI's intent to establish a stronger commercial, enterprise, and policy presence in India as the country rapidly emerges as one of the world's most important AI markets. With his extensive experience in scaling technology platforms, leading business transformation, and driving strategic partnerships, Singh is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping OpenAI's India strategy and supporting the next wave of AI innovation across the country's digital economy.

OpenAI Hires Former Uber India Chief Prabhjeet Singh as India Managing Director

OpenAI has appointed the former Uber India and South Asia head Prabhjeet Singh as its first managing director in the country as it looks to scale its presence further in what CEO Sam Altman has time and again reiterated would form its second largest-market after the US. The change was swift and is part of a series of poaching efforts by OpenAI in recent times that includes the likes of Noam Shazeer who was Google's Gemini co-lead. They also hired Apple's VP Paul Meade and later took away Jony Ive who was the company's design head. The company also beat down an aggressive poaching effort from Meta with offers of its own. Singh had announced his resignation from Uber yesterday and is now slated to join OpenAI in September where he would report to Kiran Mani, the managing director in charge of Asia Pacific. He would be responsible for consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations in India. Over the past year, OpenAI has made considerable investments in India that includes opening its first office in New Delhi last August and following it up with offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru in 2026. They hired former Meta executive Pragya Misra to lead public policy and then broadened her role to head of strategy and global affairs. Then there is Rishi Jaitly from Twitter India who came on board as senior advisor to set up a continuous engagement with the government of India on AI policy and implementation. All of these hires have resulted in a growing number of alliances in several areas such as commerce, web streaming, education and payments.

OpenAI Appoints Ex-Uber India Chief Prabhjeet Singh as MD for India

OpenAI has named Prabhjeet Singh, former Uber India and South Asia President, as its India Managing Director to lead operations, partnerships, and AI adoption, signaling a stronger commitment to one of the company's fastest-growing global markets. OpenAI has appointed former Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh as its Managing Director for India, underscoring the company's growing focus on one of its fastest-expanding markets. Singh will be joining the AI startup in September as the company's most senior executive in the country. This appointment is timely as OpenAI increases its presence in India amid growing demand for generative AI solutions from businesses, developers, and consumers in the country. The company views India as a key market where it can expand AI adoption and build partnerships.