Electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric is set to let go of nearly 500 employees across teams as part of a restructuring exercise to improve margins and profitability prospects, a person in the know of the matter told Mint.
The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company did not immediately respond to Mint’s request for a comment.
The development comes months after Ola Electric’s sister company Ola Consumer, formerly Ola Cabs, announced a restructuring exercise in April that would impact about 10% of its staff. Its CEO Hemant Bakshi also stepped down less than a year after joining the IPO-bound company. Its CFO Karthik Gupta also quit as a part of the exercise that impacted about 200 employees.
In April, Ola also shut down its ride-hailing operations in New Zealand, Australia and the UK to sharpen its focus on expanding its electric fleet in India.
Earlier this month, Ola Electric reported a second-quarter net loss of ₹495 crore, narrowing from ₹524 crore a year earlier but widening from ₹347 crore in the April-June quarter.
Customer woes
The company has also been struggling with its after-sales service in recent months, leaving several customers disgruntled. The Bengaluru-based company has been receiving nearly 80,000 complaints every month, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told Mint in September.
Its service centres have struggled to keep pace and the company has received 6,000-7,000 complaints a day, causing long delays, leaving service staff overwhelmed and customers frustrated, the September report said.
Ola has reportedly been under government scrutiny after over 10,000 customer complaints against the company. However, the company has clarified that the backlog of complaints has been resolved and that the firm is focused on expanding its sales and co-located service infrastructure. The company plans to expand from 782 stores as of September 2024, to 2,000 stores by March 2025.
Still, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has ordered a detailed probe into alleged “deficiencies” in the company’s services and products, specifically regarding its scooters, Mint reported last week.
On Thursday, Ola Electric’s shares closed 3% lower at ₹67.23 apiece on the National Stock Exchange.
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