OpenAI is intensifying its focus on India by appointing Prabhjeet Singh, the former president of Uber India and South Asia, as its inaugural managing director for the region. This move signifies OpenAI’s commitment to expanding its footprint in what it considers its second-largest market following the United States.
Singh, who announced his departure from Uber, is set to join OpenAI in September. He will report to Kiran Mani, the managing director for Asia Pacific, and will oversee OpenAI’s operations in India. His responsibilities will include driving consumer growth, fostering enterprise adoption, developing partnerships, engaging with regulators, and managing day-to-day operations.
This appointment reflects OpenAI’s ongoing investment in the Indian market. The company opened its New Delhi office last August and plans to establish additional offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Earlier this year, OpenAI brought on board Pragya Misra, a former executive with Truecaller and Meta, to guide public policy and partnerships, later promoting her to head of strategy and global affairs. Additionally, Rishi Jaitly, the former head of Twitter India, was recruited as a senior adviser to facilitate OpenAI’s interactions with the Indian government on AI policy matters.
In recent months, OpenAI has developed partnerships in various sectors, including higher education, enterprise payments, AI-driven commerce, and web streaming, while also integrating into India’s expanding data center landscape. With the rapid rise in ChatGPT adoption, OpenAI recognizes the Indian market’s significance. Prominent Indian corporations like Reliance and Tata Group have become early collaborators in this venture.
Simultaneously, OpenAI has been actively expanding its workforce in India, seeking professionals for roles such as AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, and a director for partnerships and solutions engineering.
India is becoming a crucial arena for U.S. AI firms, fueled by its enormous developer talent pool, over a billion internet users, and increasing enthusiasm for generative AI. Competitor Anthropic also established its office in Bengaluru late last year and appointed former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its lead for the Indian market.
