American taxi hailing company Uber has agreed to work with media firm Times Internet for an undisclosed investment from the latter.
Uber describes the investment as small, and adds that its focus is on raising the visibility of its ride sharing services through the Times Internet network.
The alliance is somewhat similar to Uber's deal with Baidu in China.
The Baidu and Uber coming-together saw Uber ditch its uses of Google Maps in China, and gain visibility through Baidu's search engine, but the Times Internet deal is about marketing.
The San Francisco-based techcrunch.com web site quoted Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO, as saying, that India is one of our fastest growing markets in the history of Uber and one where they are investing heavily in continued growth.
Kalanick was also quoted, as saying, "Marketing and distribution are a key part to our strategy for success in India and there is no better partner and platform for this than Times Internet."
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Times Internet is the digital arm of media giant Times of India. It typically invests in Indian startups, but its overseas investments have included Fab (which is now with new owners), while it has partnered with Business Insider and Gawker to help launch websites in India.
The deal appears to be less significant than the Baidu deal on paper but it provides an interesting insight into Uber's continued aspirations in India. Its business had come under controversies with the alleged rape of a passenger late last year and a subsequent ban in New Delhi.
Uber's chief rival in India is Ola, backed by SoftBank covers 67 cities. Ola recently launched a food ordering and delivery service.