Agreement to make $50 million USD investment in Hyderabad, create thousands of entrepreneurship opportunities and foster greater innovation.
Today Uber, the technology platform that is changing the way people move around cities, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Telangana to create thousands of jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, foster technical innovation and research into smart city initiatives and a commitment to make significant investments.
“Shri K T Rama Rao Garu, Hon’ble Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj has shown great vision by supporting innovation and embracing choice. This is an outstanding example of what can be achieved when the private and the public sector work together with the best interests of the local communities at heart to bridge the digital divide in line with Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India initiative,” said Siddharth Shanker, GM Hyderabad, Uber.
Uber has a long-term commitment to creating tens of thousands of jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities and redefining car ownership and safer transportation choices for people in Telangana state. The MoU is a visionary step and a significant milestone in how governments and Uber are working together around the world to develop smarter cities.
Sixteen months ago Uber transformed urban mobility for over millions of Indians, when it launched in Hyderabad, by introducing a more safe, reliable and efficient way to move around the city. In fact, the flexibility, entrepreneurial opportunity and earning potential of Uber’s innovative technology has an equally transformational impact on the livelihoods of thousands of driver partners and their families.
The first-of-its-kind MoU between the Government of Telangana and Uber will include the following areas:
• Job Creation
- Uber will leverage its global model to create unrivaled entrepreneurship opportunities and support tens of thousands of middle class jobs in the state of Telangana.
- Uber and the government will partner to create socio-economic opportunities for women and people from resource poor sections of society. Uber will collaborate with The Telangana Academy for Skills and Knowledge (TASK) to identify and train 2000+ candidates by the end of 2016 who will then drive on the Uber platform.
- Uber’s Vehicle Finance program and technology platform will facilitate first-time vehicle ownership and provide unrivaled economic opportunities for the successful candidates from the TASK program.
• Investment in Hyderabad
- Uber will invest upwards of USD 50 million into Hyderabad over the next 5 years to establish a state-of-the-art facility that will house hundreds of new employees.
- Hyderabad was always the preferred choice. The supportive and forward thinking government, deep talent pool, excellent real estate and high standard of living were key factors that influenced this decision.
• Smart Cities
- Uber has always been deeply committed to enhancing people’s lives by revolutionizing urban mobility. Our vision for the City of the Future is one where a city like Hyderabad has fewer cars on the road than it does today leading to roads that are safer and have less congestion and pollution.
- Uber will engage with T-Hub and the government and explore synergies to foster the smart cities initiative and technological innovation in the city using big data analysis.
• Progressive Regulations:
- Uber will work closely with the government to develop a new regulatory framework to be passed in the next four weeks for on-demand transportation technology aggregator services that are bringing unprecedented benefits to urban transportation and the lives of thousands of drivers.
- As more and more people in Hyderabad choose Uber as their preferred choice, the city strengthens its position at the forefront of innovation for Uber globally. Most recently, in April, Hyderabad was chosen over 320+ other cities as the location for Uber’s global-first cash payment experiment.
Source: PTI