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Uber Invests $1 Billion In Indian Market

Posted by samzenpus on from the feeding-the-machine dept.

New submitter keithlynpitts writes: Uber is looking to expand its services in India, and will invest $1 billion there in the next nine months. India is the second biggest market for Uber after the U.S. The company hopes their investment will help speed growth in the country, which is already at a staggering 40% every month. "We expect to hit over 1 million trips per day," said Amit Jain, president at Uber India.

8 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Hype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unlimited funding to attract an expected unlimited number of post-IPO suckers.

  2. fuber by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

    Making a ride sharing app is not the real thing now . The process of engaging partners (drivers) will be the crucial thing in this marketplace. The driver involved in the recent uber rape incident in India had earlier been booked for rape and uber had no clue about this .

    1. Re:fuber by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The driver involved in the recent uber rape incident in India had earlier been booked for rape and uber had no clue about this .

      The problem is doing something about it. If you search for information on this stuff you could easily get the impression that Uber is the root of all rape in India, but that's a lot of complete horseshit. The truth is that some states still have incomplete and/or half-assed records on taxi drivers, and no Indian state really gave a shit about criminal background checks until the international community began to shine a light on rape in India after a young woman was raped to death on a moving bus, and the locals finally reacted.

      The truth is that most of the world is inordinately kind to rapists, this is only really changing now, and Uber is no more or less complicit than the rest of India. There's literally no framework in place which would make it possible for them to do background checks on drivers in India. The ones used for the licensed taxis are bullshit, when they even exist.

      TL;DR: India is rapey, it's not just Uber.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:fuber by invictusvoyd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There's literally no framework in place which would make it possible for them to do background checks on drivers in India.

      Apparently there are private investigators who do background checks in India for the IT outsourcing industry but they are a little more expensive than directly accepting forged supporting documents from a driver.

  3. Uber will succeed in India by jkrise · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The 'call taxi' market, as it is called here in India, is fractured and ripe for disruption. Unions in taxis are very weak. People here do not value privacy over saving a few rupees. RedBus and TicketGoose have made it big in bus reservations. Uber will tie up with Microsoft and Google to plunder the call taxi market.

    I helped write taxi dispatch s/w for 3 firms, and I feel Uber will drive out Ola, TaxiForSure and other fringe players...

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  4. Re:Good business by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    And create an Uber cartel that simply outbids the taxi drivers for government... ah.. services... yeah... that's it

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  5. Re:$1 Billlion in exactly what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    H1B Uber drivers...

  6. Re:Good business by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    And create an Uber cartel that simply outbids the taxi drivers for government

    Except that ride-sharing is not a cartel. There are no big barriers to entry. Even the "network effect" that allows, say, eBay to dominate auctions, doesn't apply as much to ride-sharing, since both drivers and riders can easily switch between multiple services on a ride-by-ride basis.