Uber infuses Indian subsidiary with $8 million

Uber continues to infuse more capital into its Indian subsidiary. The company has invested $7.9 million into its Indian arms in May, as per documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

According to a VCCircle report, Mumbai-based Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd received $6.9 million while Delhi-based Uber India Technology Pvt. Ltd got $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).

The company, which counts India as its second biggest market after the US and China, recently revealed that it has grown 2.5x since June 2016. The jump in growth includes both trips as well as GMV (gross merchandise value).

After Uber exited from China by selling its China operations to Didi Chuxing, it has publicly stated its intention to increase focus on India. The company has committed to India the chunk of the $3.5 billion it raised from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund last year.

Uber India Systems, which provides marketing and support services to the ride hailing major, posted a 442% jump in its revenues for the year ended March 2016 at Rs 374 crore against Rs 69 crore in the previous year.

Of late, the world’s highest valued company has been mired into controversies. Series of allegations of sexual harassment, privacy invasion, property theft had forced Uber’s Chief Executive and Co-Founder, Travis Kalanick to step down.

These controversies and exit of Travis also triggered concerns on its operation in India. Some media reports pointed out that the company’s aggressive growth plan may take backseat.

However, in a recent interaction with business daily, Mint - Uber’s country head - Amit Jain stated that India continues to be a very big market for the company and the commitment towards India is absolute.

Meanwhile, Uber’s archrival Ola had secured about $154 million investment over the past couple of months. In May this year, it raised around $104 million from Falcon Edge Capital and Ratan Tata’s RNT Capital Advisers while $50 million came last month.