Experts and employees detail Uber's struggles in Pakistan as it discontinues service in five cities, cuts spending, and faces increased competition from inDrive
Fierce local competition in the ride-hailing sector and economic uncertainty have forced Uber to scale back its presence in South Asia. Tweets: @sub8u , @nixxin , @restofworld , @restofworld , and @nilchristopher Tweets: @sub8u : Can't make this up! Uber is apparently facing headwinds in Pakistan, thanks to...an app that enables haggling which also decided having senior leadership and customer support is a waste of money 😂 https://restofworld.org/... Nikhil Pahwa / @nixxin : Haggling as a feature and not a bug. 😳 Consider how, in India, ride booking apps pitch “freedom from haggling” as a feature. I guess what's a bug in one market is a feature in another. Depends on the balance of power between the supplier and the customer. https://twitter.com/... @restofworld : After years of aggressive expansion, Uber seems to be finally abandoning its growth-at-all-cost strategy in Pakistan https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : “Most American mobility firms have struggled to find their footing in South Asia, especially because of local competition” After years of pursuing growth, Uber seems to be shrinking its ambitions in the region and instead focusing on profitability https://restofworld.org/... Nilesh Christopher / @nilchristopher : In October, Uber shuttered operations in 5 Pakistani cities. Part of the reason is the dizzying rise of InDriver, whose haggling feature was an instant hit amongst price-sensitive users Wrote about Uber's long retreat in South Asia for @restofworld https://restofworld.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second act of a retreat Uber has been staging across South Asia for years: back in 2017 it was already fighting rival Ola on weak infrastructure in India, and by 2019 analysts argued its best growth prospects were being ceded to regional players like Grab and Go-Jek on more favorable Southeast Asian unit economics. Now Pakistan becomes the clearest case yet — five cities dropped, spending cut, and share flowing to inDrive, whose fare-haggling feature undercuts Uber's fixed-price model while running without senior leadership or dedicated customer support.
The exit also foreshadows what happened to Uber's own subsidiary: by mid-2024, Uber-owned Careem had slid from Pakistan's ride-hailing leader to a distant third after the parent deprioritized the country over its unstable economy.
First-order effects
- Riders and drivers in the five discontinued Pakistani cities lose Uber as an option overnight, concentrating demand on inDrive and whatever local alternatives remain.
- inDrive converts Uber's pullback directly into market share, validating a stripped-down operating model that skips senior leadership and customer support entirely.
Second-order effects
- Careem, Uber's own subsidiary in the market, is left competing against a cheaper haggling-based rival with less backing from a parent now prioritizing profitability over growth.
- The haggling-as-a-feature playbook pressures fixed-price apps regionally — commentators like Nikhil Pahwa note Indian platforms pitch 'freedom from haggling' as a selling point, a positioning inDrive's success now complicates.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US ride-hailing platforms systematically trade emerging-market volume for profitability, ceding price-sensitive markets to leaner local operators — the same dynamic Bloomberg flagged when Uber ceded ground to Grab and Go-Jek in Southeast Asia.
- Pricing norms may bifurcate globally: negotiated fares become the competitive weapon in emerging markets while fixed-price, app-mediated pricing remains the standard in developed ones.
The trend: Global ride-hailing giants are retreating from economically volatile emerging markets to chase profitability, handing share to low-overhead local rivals like inDrive.