Layoff of employees in Ola: Company may lay off 500 employees of software vertical, increasing focus on non-software engineering domain A to Z Counsel

Ola may lay off at least 500 employees in its software vertical. CNBC TV-18 has published a report regarding this quoting sources. Many of these employees were working on the Ola app. This step has been taken due to the declining sales of Ola electric scooter. In August, the company has been able to sell only 3,351 scooters.

The company has been working on restructuring for the past few months. The company had earlier laid off around 2,000 employees due to the closure of pre-owned car business, Ola Cars and quick commerce business Ola Dash. Over 30 senior officials, including members of Bhavish Agarwal’s leadership team, have stepped down in the last two years.

Focus on non-software engineering domain
An Ola spokesperson declined to comment on the number of layoffs. Ola, India’s largest EV company, is expanding its focus on non-software engineering domains by building engineering and R&D capabilities across electric vehicles, cells, batteries, manufacturing and automation, the company said in a statement.

Aims to increase engineering talent pool to 5,000
The company currently has around 2,000 engineers and aims to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 in the next 18 months. For these reasons, the company is doing restructuring. In March, the Ola S1 scooter caught fire.

Customer complaints regarding battery performance and service
The matter was investigated by a high-level committee along with eight other incidents of fire in the electric scooter. The investigation found deficiencies in the quality of cells used in battery packs of various electric vehicle companies. The company, which has been in the electric vehicle market for the last nine months, has been facing several customer complaints regarding software, battery performance and service.

The company sold only 3,351 scooters in August
The company sold 12,691 scooters in April. In August, the company sold only 3,351 vehicles, the lowest in six months. The drop in sales has also prompted Ola Electric to revamp its online direct selling strategy.

The company’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal recently sought feedback from customers whether they want to buy scooters online or from retail stores. The company will launch 200 experience centers by March. Apart from this, 20 centers are already present.

Indian startups layoffs
Indian startups have fired around 12,000 employees in the first 6 months of the year. By the end of the year, this number can reach beyond 60 thousand. Ola, Blinkit, Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, Mobile Premier League, Lido Learning, mFine, Trail, Furlanco and many others have laid off thousands of employees so far this year.