Ride-hailing platform Uber opened its second Centre of Excellence (COE) in India on December 2, at Visakhapatnam. The company says it has invested around $800,000 (Rs 5.6 crore) for the new centre.

The centre is designed to provide specialised customer support for critical incidents that require immediate attention. They will be employing dedicated teams of solution-oriented, experts to support Uber customers across India, South Asia and the Asia Pacific. According to Uber, the new centre will generate 500 additional jobs in India and will operate 24/7.

Speaking of the launch, Wen-Szu Lin, senior director, Community Operations for Asia Pacific, Uber, said, “With the launch of the second COE in India, we aim to reiterate our deep commitment to India by bringing safer mobility solutions to our riders. Through the new COE we plan to expand our global customer support footprint as well as aim to create new economic opportunities for the high-calibre talent in this country.”

The company's first Centre of Excellence in India was set up in Hyderabad, in 2015. Uber now has over 1,000 employees providing critical regional and global customer support services to its community of riders, drivers, eaters, couriers, and restaurant partners. The new Vizag facility will be Uber’s twelfth Centre of Excellence, globally. It has two COEs in the US in Chicago and Phoenix; four in EMEA in Limerick (Ireland), Lisbon (Portugal), Cairo (Egypt) and Krakow (Poland). The company also has two COEs in Latin America in Costa Rica and Sao Paulo (Brazil). The Vizag COE is Uber's fourth in Asia following Manila (Philippines), Clarke (Philippines) and Hyderabad (India).