Ridesharing services provider Uber has opened its first Asian engineering centre in Bengaluru. The centre will house software engineers, product developers and others working initially on problems specific to users in India. The centre will eventually play a role in improving Uber’s customer-facing technologies worldwide. Worldwide, Uber has about a 1,000 engineers spread over nine engineering centres.

The engineering centre in Bangalore is different from the Centre of Excellence (CoE) the company opened in Hyderabad which deals with operations and provides multi-channel support via email, phone and social media to ensure seamless experience before, during and after a ride.

Uber founder Travis Kalanic is moving aggressively to establish the ridesharing service provider in India, which he sees as the company’s fastest growing market outside the US. The company is investing over $1 billion in India to build its network of cabs and has pumped in $50 million to open an operations-support centre in Hyderabad last month.

India’s importance for Uber, as the only other market that can rival China in scale, is also underscored by the company introducing the more-innovative services very quickly. For instance, a motorcycle and scooter service for short-distance trips was introduced in Bengaluru within days of its pilot launch pilot in Bangkok. The company has three engineering centres in the US, three in Europe and one in India.