OpenAI hires Prabhjeet Singh to lead India, joins in September

OpenAI has appointed Prabhjeet Singh, the former president of Uber India and South Asia, as its first managing director for India. Singh will join OpenAI in September and report to Kiran Mani, the company’s managing director for Asia Pacific, and will lead consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations in what OpenAI calls its second-largest market after the U.S.

Who is Prabhjeet Singh and what will he do?

Prabhjeet Singh is the former Uber India and South Asia president who announced his resignation from Uber and will join OpenAI in September, reporting to Kiran Mani. At OpenAI he will be responsible for the company’s performance in India across consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations.

Singh’s hire follows a string of senior-level appointments and local investments from OpenAI. The company has been expanding staff in India with openings including AI deployment engineers, developer experience engineers, a developer marketing lead, a partner director, and solutions engineers.

How has OpenAI already expanded in India?

OpenAI opened its first office in New Delhi last August and earlier this year said it would establish new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. In 2024 the company hired Pragya Misra to lead public policy and partnerships, later expanding her role to head of strategy and global affairs. OpenAI also brought on Rishi Jaitly as a senior adviser to help establish engagement with the Indian government on AI policy.

Beyond hires and offices, OpenAI has struck partnerships across higher education, enterprise payments, AI-powered commerce, and web streaming, and it has become part of the country’s growing data center build-out. Indian conglomerates Reliance and Tata Group are named among its early partners.

Who else is competing in India?

Rival Anthropic opened its India office in Bengaluru in late 2025 and earlier this year named former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its India head. The market has attracted multiple U.S. AI companies, driven by a large developer base and more than a billion internet users.

OpenAI points to India’s rapidly growing adoption of ChatGPT as evidence of the market’s importance. The company has emphasized partnerships and local hiring as part of its strategy to scale in the region.

Why it matters

OpenAI’s appointment of a senior local executive signals a shift from remote or advisory engagement to full-time country leadership and operations. Putting an experienced local operator in charge could accelerate enterprise deals and regulatory engagement where nuanced government relations and partnerships matter. The move also tightens competition with other U.S. AI firms that are staffing up in India and opening local offices.

What to watch

Watch whether Singh’s appointment speeds up the rollout of the Mumbai and Bengaluru offices and how OpenAI converts existing partnerships into enterprise revenue and local infrastructure projects. The next concrete signals will be announcements of local enterprise deals, additional senior hires, or operational openings tied to the new offices.