Ola Group’s chief human resources officer exits company
Ola Electric had hired Balachandar N initially as its CHRO in May 2021 when the company was gearing up to launch its first line of electric scooters.
Ola Group’s Chief People Officer Balachandar N left the company in early November after almost a four-year stint, he confirmed to YourStory.
In May 2021, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company hired Balachandar as Ola Electric’s chief human resource officer (CHRO), as the company was gearing up to launch its first set of electric scooters. He had replaced former HR chief Rohit Munjal and stayed on with the company through its initial public offering (IPO) process and listing earlier this year.
The same year, he was elevated to CHRO of the Ola Group, consisting of its EV arm, ride-hailing service Ola Consumer, and artificial intelligence startup Krutrim.
Balachandar told YourStory that he has “more of retired” from his position.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Balachandar founded Quickleap Management Consultants in November, which works with entrepreneurs and leadership teams to help scale up ventures and supports fundraising, ideation, and execution activities.
Ola declined to comment on the matter.
Balachandar is the latest in a series of top management exits at Ola. In October, Ola Electric’s Secretary and Compliance Officer Pramendra Tomar resigned from his posts.
In September, Ola Consumer’s Chief Business Officer, Sidharth Shakdher, also left the company after a brief nine-month tenure at the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company. He joined Paytm as the head of a business unit within the company earlier this year.
Recently, the Indian startup landscape has seen a series of shuffles, with Zepto’s Dinesh Gomez resigning as the quick commerce company's HR head and BharatPe’s Smriti Handa set to leave the company, according to an Entrackr report.
Ola Electric has also undertaken a restructuring exercise, set to affect 450-500 employees, to improve its margins and reach profitability, YourStory earlier reported.
The company reported a wider quarterly net loss for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, to Rs 495 crore from Rs 324 crore in the first quarter.
(Disclaimer: Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, is an independent director in Ola Electric)
(The copy was updated with a comment from Ola)
Edited by Suman Singh