Uber India, on the lines of Amazon and Flipkart, seems set to further monetise its cabs plying on Indian roads as the SoftBank-backed ride-hailing company and Ola’s competitor is looking to convert its cabs into space available for advertising. Uber in a regulatory filing has proposed to tweak its memorandum of association to “enter into a new line of business” to “carry on in India or abroad the business of marketing, advertising, and branding for itself or third parties,” the company said in the filing. Uber had reported a profit of $6 million for FY19 up from $3.7 million in FY18.
Uber, which recently had Ola as its another competitor in London, added in the filing sourced by business signals platform Paper.vc that “for this purpose to purchase, sell, sponsor, hire, manage, acquire, undertake, hold, provide and promote, publicity or advertising time-space or opportunity on internet, broadcasting centre, television centre, hoardings, cabs, electronic display board, cinema cable network, newspapers, magazines, souvenirs, all other present and feature media or display devices and to do all incidental acts and things necessary for the attainment of objects of the company.”
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With the latest move, the cab booking firm, “is set to become yet another marketplace for media buying and selling as the ride-hailing company opens itself and its collaterals up to advertising,” said Nikhil Kanekal, Analyst at Paper.vc. This would, in fact, mean “cabs in Indian cities could become the new billboards for advertising. The Uber app and other digital properties owned by Uber could be monetised for marketing activities since the brand has a significant digital footprint,” said Kanekal. Uber had recently expanded its Uber Money team by over 100 professionals at its Hyderabad tech centre. The team currently has a presence in New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Amsterdam.