OpenAI has hired Prabhjeet Singh, former president of Uber India and South Asia, as its first-ever managing director for India. 

This is a major sign that OpenAI is treating India as far more than just another emerging market. India is now OpenAI’s second-largest market after the United States. 

Prabhjeet Singh

Singh announced his departure from Uber on Friday. He’ll officially join OpenAI in September and will report directly to Kiran Mani, OpenAI’s managing director for Asia Pacific. 

His job will cover a lot of ground, including consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and day-to-day operations. 

That’s a big portfolio, but Singh has the experience to match it.

Why India?

India is a goldmine for AI companies right now. It has over a billion internet users, a massive developer community, and a young population hungry for new technology.

OpenAI has seen this firsthand. The company says 18 to 24-year-olds make up nearly 50% of ChatGPT usage in India. 

The company opened its first India office in New Delhi last August. Earlier this year, it announced plans to open additional offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. 

Now it’s putting a seasoned leader at the forefront.

Strategy

OpenAI didn’t just wake up one day and decide to care about India. This has been a slow, deliberate build.

Back in 2023, the company brought on Rishi Jaitly, former Twitter India head, as a senior adviser. 

His job was to help OpenAI navigate AI policy conversations with the Indian government.

Then came Pragya Misra. The former Truecaller and Meta executive joined to lead public policy and partnerships in 2024. She later expanded her role to head of strategy and global affairs.

Also read: OpenAI Introduces ChatGPT Go Plan in India at $5/Month

Partnerships 

OpenAI has been inking deals across some of India’s biggest industries.

Higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered e-commerce, and web streaming have all seen OpenAI partnerships in recent months. 

Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group are among its earliest and most powerful partners in the country.

OpenAI also tapped Tata for 100 megawatts of AI data center capacity in India, with plans to scale toward one gigawatt. 

OpenAI is filling out its India team fast. Current openings include AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, a developer marketing lead, a partner director, and solutions engineers.