Two long-time Ola top executives chief technology and product officer Suvonil Chatterjee and chief marketing officer Anshul Khandelwal at electric vehicle (EV) company Ola Electric quit effective Friday.Chatterjee and Khandelwal joined ride-hailing business Ola Cabs and then moved to the EV firm. While Chatterjee came on board Ola in 2017 as the head of design, Khandelwal began his stint in March 2018 as the head of marketing at the ride-hailing company.
Ola Electric said the executives have resigned citing personal reasons.
ETtechN Balachandar
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N Balachandar, Ola group’s senior vice president and group chief people officer, exited the company in November this year, ET reported on December 13. Balachandar was appointed as the chief human resources officer of Ola Electric in May 2021 and was elevated to the group level later that year. He headed the HR function for ride-hailing firm Ola Cabs (now Ola Consumer), listed electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric and artificial intelligence startup Krutrim.
Ravi Jain
Marking the first top-level exit at Krutrim AI, Ravi Jain, business head of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup quit in October. Jain has been associated with Ola since 2021, first as the business head of Ola Cars and then as head of strategy at Ola Electric. He became the business head at Krutrim when Aggarwal put together a team for this new venture in the middle of 2023.
Sidharth Shakdher
In October, Ola Mobility’s chief business officer (CBO) Sidharth Shakdher quit to join Paytm as the head of a business unit within the company, spending less than a year at the Aggarwal-led company. During his nine-month tenure, he led the core mobility business to profitability, launched a consumer loans division and the ONDC food delivery service, and introduced the Ola Loyalty program, Ola Coin.
Mahesh Alanthat
Ola Electric also saw its vice president and head of sales Mahesh Alanthat resign in October. He had joined the company from Samsung Mobile in March 2023.
Kartik Gupta
Ola Cabs’ chief financial officer (CFO) Kartik Gupta exited the firm in May 2024. Gupta joined the firm in November 2023 after nearly 18 years at fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant Procter & Gamble in Dubai. Gupta was part of a small team of senior leadership at Ola Cabs internally called the ‘CXO team’ that was working closely with Aggarwal.
Hemant Bakshi
One of the shock exits at the beginning of 2024 was Ola Cabs chief executive Hemant Bakshi, who left just three months after the ride-hailing company publicly announced his appointment. After his exit, founder Bhavish Aggarwal took over the reins at the firm again.
Bakshi joined from consumer goods giant Unilever and was among several of the external hirings in key positions that Aggarwal had made. Others included Gupta from Procter & Gamble and Shakdher.
