New Delhi, Jan 21 (EFE).- United States-based Uber on Tuesday finalized the sale of its food delivery service - Uber Eats - in India to Zomato, one of the biggest companies in the sector, amid intense competition to dominate the market.

"We entered food delivery in India in 2017 and today is when our journey takes a different route. Zomato has acquired Uber Eats in India and we'll no longer be available here with immediate effect. We wish all our users more good times with great food on the road ahead," the company said in a statement.

Zomato also confirmed the takeover in a press release, adding that it was an "all-stock transaction" that gives Uber 9.99 percent ownership in Zomato.

Although the sum involved in the acquisition has not been revealed, media reports put the transaction around $300-350 million.

"Uber Eats in India will discontinue operations and direct restaurants, delivery partners, and users of the Uber Eats apps to the Zomato platform, effective today," the Uber statement said.

Ride-hailing giant Uber, one of the biggest players in the sector in India, entered the competitive food delivery business - which has been dominated by Zomato and another Indian company Swiggy - in 2017 although it had been present in the country since 2013.

Both Zomato and Swiggy claim to be present in more than 500 cities in India. Zomato, one of the largest food apps in India, has a presence in 24 countries.

"The competition in this space is going to continue to be intense, and the food delivery category is still very small compared to the overall foodservice market in India," Zomato said.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said his company now intended to focus on its ride-sharing business in India that "remains an exceptionally important market to Uber".

"We will continue to invest in growing our local rides business, which is already the clear category leader," he said.

Uber had earlier ended its Eats service in South Korea in September. EFE

© 2020 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc., source EFE Ingles