Uber promotes Manik Gupta as chief product officer

In what is the first high profile elevation of an Indian professional at ride-hailing firm Uber, Manik Gupta has been promoted as the chief product officer of the company.
This comes at a time when Uber is transitioning itself from being a taxi hailing service to an end-to-end transportation service provider.

Gupta, an MBA from Indian School of Business in Hyderabad has been the interim product lead at Uber since the departure of Daniel Graf in April this year. Earlier, he ran Uber's marketplace and maps product teams for three years where he was responsible for creating mapping solutions and marketplace technologies.

Announcing his appointment, Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted, “No one better suited to build global products that speak to those unique, local needs. Congrats to Manik on becoming our Chief Product Officer. He's a strong yet humble leader who's already made a huge impact @Uber over the last three years.”

Gupta told ET that today, riders can connect with a private car to get from point A to B, but the company can support other transportation modes, too.

“My priorities are to leverage and refine the technology that powers our ridesharing experience to support our big bets like Eats, bikes, and scooters; continue to build a world-class product team; build upon the momentum of our recently launched features such as our loyalty programs (Uber Rewards and Uber Pro) and focus on markets like India to continually improve the experience for users and driver partners.”

On what are the key areas where Uber is currently working to make the experience smoother for the rider, Gupta that Uber is rethinking GPS to solve a major pain point for riders and drivers which is the pick-up location.

“These locations are particularly tricky for GPS to find when they’re in “urban jungles” or areas with a lot of tall buildings. The technology we’re piloting in a handful of cities improves GPS performance in these cities by using 3D maps and satellite signal strengths to help drivers find pick up points more easily.” He identified Uber Rewards – which has just been introduced in the US as another area aimed at enhancing user experience.

Gupta grew up in India and spent many years in Singapore where he founded an e-commerce startup, BuyItTogether.com, which was acquired by a Norwegian company, CoShopper.com. He subsequently managed Hewlett Packard's e-commerce initiatives in Asia-Pacific and Japan.

In a recent interview to ET, the president of Uber India and South Asia, Pradeep Parameswaran said that being in India and truly solving for transportation is deeply important for the company and its commitment to the country is absolute.

On Wednesday, Uber said that growth in bookings for its ride-hailing and delivery services rose 6% in the latest quarter even as the firm lost $1.07 billion for the three months ending Sept 30.

“We had another strong quarter for a business of our size and global scope,” Chief Financial Officer Nelson Chai said in an emailed statement to agencies. Chai emphasized that as it looks ahead to an IPO it is investing in future growth across platforms, including food, freight, electric bikes and scooters, and in “high-potential markets in India and the Middle East” where it continues to solidify its leadership position.