OpenAI appoints Uber India chief as country managing director
Original: OpenAI poaches Uber India chief to lead its biggest market outside the US
Why This Matters
India competition intensifies as AI leaders invest heavily; OpenAI's India strategy signals market importance for global AI adoption.
OpenAI appointed Prabhjeet Singh, former Uber India and South Asia president, as its first managing director for India, effective September 2026. Singh will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations in OpenAI's second-largest market outside the US.
OpenAI announced the appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as managing director for India, marking a significant expansion of the company's presence in the country. Singh, who resigned from Uber on Friday, will assume the role in September and report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI's managing director for Asia Pacific. He will oversee all aspects of OpenAI's operations in India, including consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations. This hire represents OpenAI's continued investment in India following the opening of its first New Delhi office in August 2025 and plans to establish offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Previously, OpenAI hired Pragya Misra, a former Truecaller and Meta executive, to lead public policy and partnerships, expanding her role to head of strategy and global affairs. The company also brought on Rishi Jaitly, former X India head, as senior adviser for government engagement on AI policy. In recent months, OpenAI established partnerships across higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered commerce, and web streaming, while participating in India's data center development. Major Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group are among its early partners. OpenAI is actively hiring for roles including AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, and solutions engineers. India represents a key strategic market due to its vast developer base, over one billion internet users, and rapid ChatGPT adoption.