San Francisco-headquartered cab-aggregator Uber infused another amount of Rs 51.64 crore (about $7.9 million) into its Indian arms in May, documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs show.
The money was distributed between Mumbai-based Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd which received Rs 45.2 crore ($6.9 million) and Delhi-based Uber India Technology Pvt. Ltd got Rs 6.42 crore ($991,000). The funds came from Uber’s Netherlands-based subsidiaries, Uber Holdings International BV & Uber International BV (for Uber India Systems) and Besitz Holding BV & Mieten BV (for Uber India Technology).
In its effort to capture markets and acquire customers, Uber has been making losses globally. The company’s 2016 net revenue stood at $6.5 billion while adjusted net losses were $2.8 billion, according to information shared with Bloomberg in April.
In India, revenue and expenditure were neck and neck in FY2015-16, at Rs 374.19 crore and Rs 346.3 crore, respectively, leaving the company with a thin net profit of Rs 18.7 crore.
The world’s most-valued technology startup sees India as a vital market after it sold its Chinese operations to Didi Chuxing last year following a fierce battle.
Beside that it is also in direct competition with Indian cab-aggregator service- Ola, which makes it much harder for Uber to increase the numbers of profit.
Following the recent turbulence in its top ranks, questions have emerged around the company’s India plans, with some media reports going so far as to say that Uber will put its expansion here on the back burner. However, Uber India president Amit Jain has dismissed such concerns.
But Uber will still continue to invest in India with the same commitment and Travis Kalanick’s exit seem to have no effect on this. Besides that Uber India had grown 2.5 times (both by trips and gross merchandise volume) since June last year.
As reported by Pixr8 earlier, Kalanick stepped down as CEO of Uber, whose exit came under pressure after hours of drama involving Uber’s investors, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. It was triggered by accusations by a former female employee that Uber often looked the other way in sexual harassment cases.