AI
OpenAI Taps Ex-Uber India Chief Prabhjeet Singh to Lead Indian Operations
OpenAI has recruited Prabhjeet Singh, formerly of Uber India and South Asia, as its first managing director for the country as it accelerates expansion in its second-largest market.
TechCrunch — AI
OpenAI is doubling down on India with a major leadership hire. Prabhjeet Singh, who recently left Uber where he led operations across India and South Asia, will join OpenAI in September as its inaugural managing director for the country—a role that signals the organization's serious intent in what it views as its most important market outside the US.
Singh will report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI's Asia Pacific managing director, and oversee a broad mandate spanning consumer growth, enterprise sales, partnerships, government relations, and day-to-day operations.
The appointment caps a months-long sprint of expansion in India. OpenAI opened its New Delhi office last August and announced plans for outposts in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The company has also assembled a bench of India-focused talent, including Pragya Misra (formerly of Truecaller and Meta) leading strategy and global affairs, and Rishi Jaitly, ex-Twitter India head, advising on policy.
Partnerships and Infrastructure#
Recent tie-ups span higher education, fintech payments, e-commerce, and streaming. OpenAI is partnering with Tata on a 100MW AI data center and working with Reliance on AI-powered search features for JioHotstar. ChatGPT adoption among 18- to 24-year-olds in India is particularly brisk, OpenAI has noted.
The push underscores India's appeal as a battleground for US AI firms: a billion-plus internet users, a vast developer workforce, and explosive demand for generative AI tools. Rival Anthropic already has an office in Bengaluru and tapped former Microsoft India head Irina Ghose to lead the expansion.
