Uber gears up to take on Ola in India after exiting China

Bengaluru, India

UBER Technologies Inc unveiled its first-ever brand campaign in India last month with a video showing a tense Uber driver navigating gridlocked streets as he rushes to drop off a little girl to her school on examination day. In a Bollywood-style twist at the end, the girl turns back at the school gate and calls out to him: "Have a nice day, Papa." The promotion is one of many signs that the world's most valuable startup, after exiting China, is gearing up for an epic battle in India against homegrown rival ANI Technologies Pvt's Ola. Uber is stepping up investments in the country and aiming to recruit a million drivers by 2018. The goal is clear: unseat Ola at the top of the market.

The San Francisco-based company is closing the gap. Uber said that it has expanded to 28 cities in India and handled about 5.5 million rides per week in August, more than triple the amount at the start of the year. India has become its largest market after the US, in part because it agreed to sell its China business to Didi Chuxing. "India is a strategic priority," said Amit Jain, a former McKinsey & Co consultant who now runs Uber's operation in the country. "India accounts for 12 per cent of all rides on our platform globally, and there remains tremendous potential." It is enough of a priority that Mr Jain cut short a paternity break after the birth of his second child to rejoin the fray. At an event in New Delhi, he showed off an Uber onesie that, rather than the app's usual "Set Pickup Location," reads: "Set Tickle Location".