“Ola is planning to hire about 800 people for cars alone and additionally for cell development…,”. The source added, “Even as they are letting go of people, there are more people coming in. It is a repurposing process for the company rather than a cost-cutting process…”
As Ola ramps up its hiring for the electric mobility business, the urban mobility firm is in the process of firing nearly 1,000 employees, media houses reported on Friday quoting company insiders and recruitment agencies.
An earlier report had stated that the firm was laying off around 400-500 employees, while the annual appraisals for many staff were yet to be formalized. However, the final figure for retrenchment can now touch about 1,000.
Ola’s restructuring exercise, which is expected to go on for a few more weeks, is taking place in a bid to shift focus towards the firm’s electric mobility business. Ola is hiring “aggressively” for the electric mobility business.
The firm has been hiring across verticals, including mobility, hyperlocal, fintech, and for its used cars businesses, the report said. Ola has asked employees, who are targeted for layoffs, to resign voluntarily,
“The company is delaying the appraisal process of several employees who the company wants to fire– so that they resign,”.
Ola had recently unveiled the first indigenously developed lithium-ion cell, NMC 2170. The company is investing heavily in developing core research and development (R&D) to create indigenous advanced cell technologies.
As SoftBank-backed Ola plans to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells and an electric car, it was hiring four people for every person that the firm was let go.
“Ola is planning to hire about 800 people for cars alone and additionally for cell development…,”. The source added, “Even as they are letting go of people, there are more people coming in. It is a repurposing process for the company rather than a cost-cutting process…”
Ola Electric on July 18 said it has signed an agreement under the Centre’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to manufacture advanced cells in India. It said it is the only Indian electric mobility company selected by the Government of India under its ambitious Rs 80,000-crore cell PLI scheme, receiving a maximum capacity of 20-gigawatt hour (GWh) for its bid in March.
