India turns talent backyard for Southeast Asian taxi apps to fight Uber

Grab joins GO-JEK, Uber to look for Bengaluru R&D talent to build tech

Softbank-backed Southeast Asian taxi hailing firm Grab has set up a research centre in Bengaluru, joining other firms from the region such as GO-JEK that are looking to tap India’s strong engineering talent base to take on global rivals such as Uber.

The new centre will employ 200 engineers who will primarily look at developing digital payment technologies for Grab and help grow mobile payments across the Southeast Asian region. India’s focus on becoming a less-cash economy has given rise to some of the world’s most successful digital payments companies such as Paytm.

“Bangalore has established itself as the Silicon