Ola might expand operations to Sri Lanka, Nepal soon

India's largest ride-hailing service company, Ola is planning to go international with eyes on Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, reports NDTV. Ola that operates in over 100 Indian cities has been looking at international markets for a while now and if the sources are to be believed, could start its global expansion quite soon. Rival Uber already operates in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Reportedly, the cab-aggregator recently added international phone number support to its official app. Teams within the company have also been looking into localization requirements including support for local SMS, currencies, and user interfaces for different markets. Apart from Asia, Ola also plans to expand in other countries in the African region. However, no timeline of the expansion has been confirmed yet.

The timings of Ola's global plans are particularly important. The cab aggregator's two-year-old alliance with Lyft, Didi, and Grab to take on rival Uber expired some months back. This means that all these companies can now enter each other’s territories and become direct competitors.

Grab, which has long recruited developers and engineers from India, announced in March that it will be opening an R&D centre in Bangalore.

Ola's international plans are germinating in the backdrop of Uber doubling up its efforts to increase reach in the Indian market. After exiting China, India is at the forefront of Uber's expansion plans.