Ola Electric lays off 1,000 employees amid ballooning losses: Report
This is the second round of layoffs at Ola Electric after the EV maker let go of about 500 employees in November last year.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Ola Electric is laying off more than 1,000 employees and contract workers to curb widening losses, according to a Bloomberg report.
A spokesperson for Ola Electric told YourStory that the company will not comment on “speculative numbers”.
However, an Ola spokesperson attributed the downsizing to removing redundant roles. "We have restructured and automated our front-end operations delivering improved margins, reduced cost, and enhanced customer experience while eliminating redundant roles for better productivity,” they said in a statement.
Employees in sales, service, and warehouse roles at its showrooms and service centres are also being laid off, according to the report.
Notably, this is the second round of layoffs at the Bengaluru-based company after 500 people were let go in November last year as the company eyed profitability.
However, Ola Electric reported its losses widening in the three months ended December 31, 2024, losing 562 crore in the quarter compared with Rs 374 in the year-ago period.
The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company has been grappling with mounting losses and erosion of its market value as it struggles with rising competition in the ecosystem.
In December, the company was overthrown as the market leader in E2W for the first time by Bajaj Auto. It has since reclaimed the position.
In February, Ola Electric sold 25,000 units, securing a 28% market share. However, this did not reflect on the Vahan data portal as the company was renegotiating its contracts with registration agencies that would temporarily affect the data on the portal. These negotiations were aimed at reducing costs and streamlining vehicle registration.
Apart from the layoffs, in February, the company eliminated regional warehouses across the country and said it would leverage its network of 4,000 retail stores nationwide for maintaining vehicle inventory, spare parts, accessories, and last-mile deliveries.
This move is expected to boost the SoftBank-backed Ola Electric’s EBITDA margins by almost 10 percentage points, the company said.
(The copy was updated with a statement from the company.)
(Disclaimer: Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, is an independent director in Ola Electric.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh