Ola Cabs CEO Hemant Bakshi quits barely 4 months after taking charge; Co to lay-off 10% staff

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ride-hailing company Ola Cabs’ newly-appointed chief executive officer (CEO) Hemant Bakshi has quit the company, amid a restructuring exercise underway at the firm that may result in significant layoffs, two people directly aware of the matter told CNBC-TV18.

Hemant Bakshi’s resignation comes into effect immediately, said a person familiar with the matter. “He is leaving to pursue other opportunities,” said a person from Ola who did not wish to be quoted.

After serving Unilever for over three decades, Hemant Bakshi took over the role of CEO of Ola Mobility in January 2024. “I don’t have any comments at this stage,” Bakshi told CNBC-TV18 when reached out for a comment on his resignation.

The company is also set to lay off close to 200 employees, constituting about 10% of the total workforce as part of a restructuring exercise to cut costs, CNBC-TV18 has learnt from two people in the know.

The restructuring comes amid speculation that Ola Cabs may be considering going public and evaluating an initial public offering (IPO) sometime. CNBC-TV18 has not confirmed independently if the company is indeed planning any IPO.

While interacting with the media soon after his appointment in January 2024, Bakshi had shared that the parent company of Ola Cabs—ANI Technologies— had turned profitable on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) basis in the fiscal year FY23.

Bakshi had shared that for the consolidated entity, the revenue from operations and other income for FY23 stood at ₹3,000 crore as compared to ₹2,120 crore in FY22, while the EBITDA loss excluding discontinuous business reduced to ₹29 crore in FY23 from ₹291 crore in FY22.

ANI Technologies Standalone (Ola’s India Mobility business) total revenue had gone up by 48% in FY23 to ₹2,135 crores from ₹1,350 crores in FY 22, he had said.

Meanwhile, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs in a letter addressed to employees said, “We are undergoing a restructuring exercise aimed at improving profitability and preparing ourselves for the next phase of growth. We have made substantial investments in areas of Al & Technology which has led to significant cost advantages. We will continue to focus on these areas to ensure that we build cutting-edge products and services across our business verticals. These changes will result in certain roles within the company becoming redundant. This decision was not made lightly, and we are committed to supporting those impacted during this transition period. Hemant will be stepping down from his role as CEO to pursue opportunities outside the company. We extend our gratitude to Hemant for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours. Very confident of the strong leadership team which we have built over the last few years at Ola Consumer. We are committed to transparency and open communication throughout this process.”

#CNBCTV18Exclusive | We are undergoing a restructuring exercise aimed at improving profitability and preparing ourselves for the next phase of growth, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Cabs to employees pic.twitter.com/IkuA9PDNRp

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) April 29, 2024

Earlier on April 9, Ola announced that it had decided to shut down its ride-hailing business overseas in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow