Uber India's Prabhjeet Singh exits to lead OpenAI's India MD role from September

Uber India & South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh is joining OpenAI as India MD, reporting to APAC head Kiran Mani. Mandate spans consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships and regulatory engagement — signalling OpenAI's intent to build a serious on-ground India operation.

— Source publishedFri, 26 Jun, 2026, 22:47 IST·First seen Sat, 27 Jun, 2026, 02:14 IST·Source Financial Express · BrandWagon

What happened

Uber India & South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh is leaving to become OpenAI's India MD in September, reporting to APAC chief Kiran Mani. He will oversee

Why this matters

OpenAI's India build-out telegraphs imminent demand for local partnerships, distribution rails and regulatory cover — a window to position assets, JVs or licensing constructs before the MD's team locks in preferred counterparties.

What to watch

  • OpenAI India entity registration and office location filing
  • Senior hires under Singh — policy lead, enterprise sales head, solutions architect lead
  • Outcome or settlement in ANI copyright case and any new IP suits
  • Competitive response from Google (Gemini India MD/team), Anthropic, Perplexity India push
  • Sora/ChatGPT India pricing changes or India-only feature drops
  • Government MoUs — IndiaAI mission, MeitY collaborations, state government pilots
  • Expect India-specific ChatGPT pricing tier or UPI/telco bundling announcement within 2 quarters
  • Bengaluru or Gurugram office lease and 50-100 person hiring spree across sales, policy, solutions engineering
  • Enterprise partnership announcements with a top-3 Indian IT services firm (TCS/Infosys/Wipro) or a large bank
  • Policy engagement on DPDP rules, AI advisory and copyright safe harbours via IAMAI/Nasscom
  • Vernacular model or Bharat-focused product variant teased at a flagship India event