Ola Electric is planning to lay off around 400-500 people across the organisation in the coming weeks to control operating costs before its initial public offering (IPO), reported the Economic Times.
The exact number of employees to be laid off is still being finalised. The company’s leadership is currently deciding the scale of the layoffs expected across the organisation.
The report, quoting sources, mentioned that some of the affected employees might be replaced with new hires at a lower cost. However, the overall headcount will decrease, the report added.
Some teams have already finalised the number of cuts, according to a person familiar with the matter, mentioned in the report.
Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has been pushing to reduce costs across all departments, a source said.
In December, when Ola Electric filed its draft IPO papers, the company stated it had 3,733 employees as of October 2023, with an employee attrition rate of 47.48% in FY23.
In April, Ola Cabs had laid off around 200 employees. Additionally, Ola Cabs’ CEO Hemant Bakshi and CFO Kartik Gupta also left the company.
The firm aims for profitability in both its cab and electric vehicle units, as they are at different stages of going public.
For the first quarter of FY24, Ola Electric reported a net loss of Rs 267 crore on operating revenue of Rs 1,243 crore. In FY23, Ola Electric posted a net loss of Rs 1,472 crore on operating revenue of Rs 2,631 crore.
