Uber promotes Pradeep Parameswaran to head its Asia Pacific biz

Pradeep Parameswaran has been promoted as the regional head of the ride-hailing firm Uber's Asia Pacific business. The post has been filled after more than a year as the San Francisco-based firm is looking to regain its old momentum in the region.

Parameswaran, who was the president for Uber India and South Asia, will take over the new role from next week and will look after the company’s operations in nine countries - India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

“There is huge potential to serve more Uber customers and continue innovating across the diverse region, whether that be taxi partnerships in North Asia, new products like Uber Rent in Australia or pushing two and three-wheelers deep into the Indian heartland,” said Parameswaran in a statement to TechCrunch. 

Besides, Parameswaran is also expected to boost the company’s presence in countries such as Japan and South Korea.

Parameswaran will be based in Uber's new headquarters for APAC, which is most likely to be Hong Kong. The company has been planning to shift its current regional headquarter from Singapore as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rattle its business.

During his tenure as head of Uber India and South Asia, the company has seen ups and downs such as registering 14 million rides each week in 2019, selling UberEats India food business to Zomato and laying off 600 employees  last month. 

In its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, Uber announced a pre-tax gain of $154 million posts the sale of its food business to the Gurugram-based food delivery major.