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U.S based ride hailing major Uber has pulled the shutters on its Mumbai office as part of its consolidation plan to close down 45 offices across the world. News network CNBC TV18 first reported the news. The company’s Mumbai office is reportedly located near the Kurla region, a bustling neighborhood in Eastern Mumbai.
Uber told CNBC TV18 that its ride-hailing operations in Mumbai will continue unaffected despite the closure of its Mumbai office. The company’s India headquarters in Gurugram will remain unaffected by the latest move.
According to reports, Uber’s Mumbai office employs nearly 20-25 permanent employees and 150 contractual employees. Several of these employees are now expected to be laid off while some employees working in operations are likely to be retained.
Uber’s decision to close down its Mumbai office may not come as a surprise given that the company had already announced that it will globally scale down its business to cope with colossal loss triggered by the Covid-19 crises.
The company had already announced in May that it will furlough a quarter of its workforce, almost 600 employees, in India. The ride-hailing major is also planning to shift its APAC headquarter from Singapore, with sources claiming that Hong Kong is likely to be APAC headquarters new destination.
Notably, only last month Uber promoted India President, Padeep Parameswaran, to the new role of General Manager of Asia Pacific. As part of this new role, Parameswaran will look after Uber’s operation across the entire Asian continent.
It is all too obvious that Uber is going through a massive consolidation as it looks to resurrect its flounder business in the post-pandemic era. In fact, the coronavirus crises have come as a double whammy for the ride-hailing giant, since it was already struggling to keep its investors happy after its much-hyped IPO received a lackluster response from the market last year.
