OpenAI Taps Former Uber India Chief to Lead Expansion

Starting in September, Singh will report to Kiran Mani, OpenAI’s managing director for Asia Pacific. His mandate covers the full spectrum of the company's local footprint, ranging from consumer growth and enterprise adoption to regulatory navigation. This appointment follows a series of aggressive moves by OpenAI to plant roots in the region, including the opening of a New Delhi office last August and announced plans for new hubs in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

OpenAI is building a deep bench of local expertise. The firm previously recruited former Meta and Truecaller executive Pragya Misra, as well as Rishi Jaitly, who serves as a senior adviser for government relations. These efforts coincide with a surge in local partnerships involving conglomerates like Reliance and Tata Group, alongside investments in data center infrastructure. The competition for the Indian market is intensifying, as rival Anthropic recently established a presence in Bengaluru by hiring former Microsoft India executive Irina Ghose to lead its operations.