Uber India chief doubles up as driver, takes passengers by surprise

Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh was hoping to do some research on the ground. (Image credit: LinkedIn Ananya Dwivedi)

Imagine booking an Uber and upon its arrival, finding that your driver is none other than the company’s top leader.

Two Uber users in Delhi and Gurgaon were pleasantly surprised when they recently found that the rail-hailing platform’s Indian and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh would be the one to take them to their destinations.

One of the customers, named Ananya Dwivedi, said she had booked an Uber to go to her office after a long time.

“Guess who was driving the car, Prabhjeet Singh, Uber India chief executive officer (CEO),” she said in a LinkedIn post on March 6. “It was a part of his primary research. (I initially felt something is fishy and had to google his name and match the face to finally believe him). The serendipity is real! Also, it takes real humility as well as grit to get to the roots of the problems.”

The other Uber user also said she did not expect her regular day to include such a surprise.

“I got ready to leave to office and booked an Uber,” said Madhuvanthi Sundararajan. “The Uber driver immediately pinged ‘I am on my way’ without asking for my drop location. I was already very impressed! I waited downstairs when the car came into my society. The driver said - ‘Hi Madhuvanthi, I am the CEO of Uber India and you are my first passenger today. Would you be willing to do this ride?”

Sundararajan described Uber’s initiative as “superb”. “Prabhjeet Singh /Uber, you made my day,” she said. “Huge respect for wanting to understand things on-ground.”

Singh had been appointed the Uber’s president of India and South Asia in 2020. Uber had said that in his new role, Singh would oversee the next phase of growth of its mobility business and ensure the safety of riders and drivers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Singh, an alum of the IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad, has been associated with the Uber since 2015.