Ola has seen many senior level employees exiting the company recently. Ola Electric’s human resources (HR) director Ranjit Kondeshan’s exit from the electric mobility company was reported in July last year, just 14 months after he had joined the firm. Additionally, at the same time, it was also announced that Yashwant Kumar, who was Senior Director and Business Head for Charging Networks at the company, had also quit.
Then, in May last year, Ola Cars CEO Arun Sirdeshmukh resigned from his position less than a year after his appointment.
These exits have turned out to be a learning experience for the company, though.
“As we have gotten bigger, some people might have found it a little different from what their other experiences would have been and we have learned again from that what kind of people work better for us.” Aggarwal told CNBC-TV18.
He also added that the company runs on an impact-based culture and will never be a 9-5 company.
CNBC-TV18 had earlier reported that after reaching out to 10 former senior executives of Ola and Ola Electric, that the recent resignations were a result of what’s going on inside the company.
A raft of complaints about product quality, seemingly hasty decisions to start and shutter businesses. And, a culture of “act fast, think later” seems to be the common thread to Ola’s problems.
Ola was readying to launch Ola Electric’s scooters in 2021 and simultaneously launched Ola Cars, a pre-owned digital car business. This was followed by the launch of Ola Dash, a quick commerce business. This was not the first time that Ola tried its hand at quick commerce. It had also launched a hyperlocal delivery platform in 2015 and shut it the following year.
Many former employees CNBC-TV18 reached out to earlier mentioned “unrealistic” targets and timelines as a concern. A former Ola Cabs employee told CNBC-TV18 that Aggarwal wanted Ola Cabs, a mature business, to grow 4x in six months.
Apart from the work-culture issues, Aggarwal also talked about the whole issue with subsidies. He mentioned that the EV industry doesn’t require subsidies beyond a certain point and can easily achieve self-sustainability.
“We feel confident that we can do this at Ola, and the industry can survive without subsidies as well. Obviously, the subsidies should not go away completely but could taper gradually,” he added.
He also said that the company plans to invest the money from FAME subsidy and PLI schemes in auto manufacturing and cell capacity to get in more supply chains into India, especially on the cell side.
Notably, just days after after automotive industry bodies urged government to extend the FAME scheme for three to four years, government sources have told CNBC-TV18 that an extension may only be considered if surplus funds remain at the end of this fiscal — the government currently has about Rs 5,000 crore in its kitty, and these funds are likely to get exhausted.
Launched in 2019, the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle (FAME) Scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore and ends in March 2024.
CNBC-TV18 had earlier reported that there is no proposal before the government to extend the FAME scheme as yet and a final call will be taken at the end of the year.
Also read: Ola electric car launch delayed, expect electric motorbike later this year: CEO Bhavish Aggarwal
(Edited by : Nishtha Pandey)
First Published: Apr 28, 2023 4:31 PM IST
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