Uber in tie-up with Times of India digital arm

©Getty

Uber is set to announce its first investment tie-up in India, striking a deal with the Times of India media group as the taxi-hailing app tries to fend off fierce competition from local rivals and leave behind a rash of recent bad publicity in its second-largest market by users.

On Monday, the US-based group, which was valued at $40bn at its last fundraising round in December, will announce a “strategic investment and co-operation partnership” with Times Internet, the digital arm of the group that publishes the Times of India, the country’s most-read newspaper.

The deal is relatively small — one person involved said Times Internet would invest a sum “under 1bn rupees” in Uber, meaning less than $16m — but nonetheless marks a significant further step in Uber’s plans to accelerate growth in India, where it launched in April 2013.

It also marks Uber’s second major tie-up in Asia, following a similar deal in which Chinese internet group Baidu invested in the company last December, which in turn helped to integrate its taxi app more closely with Baidu’s popular map and mobile search products.

By contrast, the deal with India’s largest media conglomerate will give Uber access to the Times group’s portfolio of newspapers and television channels, as it tries to prize customers away from homegrown rivals, including Bangalore-based Ola Cabs.

The partnership could also help the Silicon Valley group to repair its brand image in India, following a temporary ban in New Delhi at the end of 2014 after one of its drivers allegedly sexually assaulted a female passenger.

Last week, Uber announced plans to hire 50,000 female drivers in India by 2020 as part of wider attempts to improve its image for safety, which have included adding a “panic button” and tracking features to its smartphone app.

Travis Kalanick, Uber chief executive, said there was “no better partner than Times Internet” as his company continued “investing heavily in continued growth” in India, which is part of a wider strategy to expand rapidly across Asia.

However, one prominent technology investor in India — who asked not to be named — said Uber was also likely to have been attracted by the political clout of the Times of India group, which is run by the powerful but publicity shy brothers Samir and Vineet Jain, and which claims to be able to reach “over 200m” Indians through its various platforms.

“Times Internet isn’t really taken that seriously as an internet player here, but they are still easily the most powerful news media group in the country,” the person said. “Since Uber have all sorts of regulatory challenges, tying up with the Times of India can win them favourable coverage, both with customers and politicians.”

Uber operates in 11 cities in India, the same number as in China, but the company says India is its second-largest by customers after the US, and the fastest-growing of all of the 55 countries in which its services have been introduced.

Satyan Gajwani, Times Internet chief executive, said the Uber deal would be part of “a platform we established to help the best companies in the world succeed in India” called Times Global Partners, which previously included tie-ups with foreign media companies such as the Huffington Post and Gawker Media.