In a fresh round of layoffs, cab aggregator and electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ola has handed out pink slips to 200 of its employees from its 2,000-strong technical workforce. Most of these employees worked on developing various aspects of apps. The company described the move as a “restructuring exercise” to minimize redundancies.
In a statement on Monday, the company said: “Ola Electric has increased its focus on non-software engineering domains, with a clear focus on building technology and R&D capabilities across all domains – vehicle, airframe, battery, manufacturing and automation, autonomous engineering streams and others.”
“In light of these efforts, the company is centralizing operations and undertaking a reorganization to minimize redundancies and build a strong lateral structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions.”
The company, run by Bhavish Aggarwal, had previously laid off around 1,000 employees due to the closure of its used car business Ola Cars and quick trade unit Ola Dash. Aside from Ola, many other startups, mostly in the edtech space, have laid off staff since earlier this year as funding has dried up.
Ola said it intends to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 over the next 18 months and as such certain redundancies need to be minimized. FE
