Layoff wave: Ola to start layoffs, 200 employees to be impacted

Ola, ride-hailing major, has started to lay off 200 employees from its Ola Cabs, Ola Electric and Ola Financial Services verticals as part of the "restructuring" exercise.

The layoffs, which were initially announced in September of last year, affected every team.

The company told that it is "centralising operations and is undertaking a restructuring exercise to minimise redundancy and build a strong lateral structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions".

The layoffs constitute 10 per cent of its 2,000-strong engineer workforce "as part of a larger restructuring exercise towards its electric dream".

"Currently, the company has around 2,000 engineers and aims to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 over the next 18 months," according to the ride-hailing company.

Nearly 1,100 people work for the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company's primary ride-hailing division.

Earlier, restructuring exercises impacted employees across product, marketing, sales, supply, tech, business, and operations verticals at the company, affecting nearly 500 employees that "were a result of restructuring in the cars and dash businesses".

The ride-hailing major last year shut down its used vehicle business Ola Cars, as well as its quick-commerce business, Ola Dash, as the company shifted focus on its electric two-wheeler and car verticals.

In order to expand into new engineering specialties and improve capabilities across the vehicle, cell, battery, manufacturing, and autonomous streams, Ola said it plans to hire 5,000 engineers.

With inputs from Agencies.