Top Ola Electric executive puts in his papers; 32nd resignation in two years

Another top executive at Ola Electric has resigned from his position — the 32nd resignation from the firm in the last two years. According to ETAuto, Yashwant Kumar, Senior Director and Business Head, Charging Network, Ola Electric Mobility, has put in his papers.

This comes a week after the resignation of Ranjit Kondeshan, who was Director HR at OLA Electric. Kondeshan departed from the electric mobility company on July 2, just 14 months after joining.

A BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Kumar joined Ola Electric in March last year. He is among several senior employees who have made a beeline to leave Bhavish Aggarwal-run electric two-wheeler company in the recent months, sources told IANS on Sunday.

Also read: EV registrations in June: Ola Electric slips to 4th spot amid fire concerns

Exits as Ola plans IPO

The high-profile exits come at a time when Ola is reportedly planning its IPO this year at a lower valuation than planned earlier as several start-ups’ IPOs have proved to be a nightmare for the investors.

The exodus also comes amid global meltdown, supply chain issues and several EV fire episodes that have shaken the trust of EV buyers in the country.

Kumar was earlier co-founder and CEO of digital marketing agency GenY Medium in Hyderabad and worked at Procter & Gamble for more than five years. He led branding initiatives for Pantene and Pringles for the South East Asia markets, prior to starting GenY Medium in India.

Ola Electric, facing a government probe in battery fires along with other EV players, has seen some high-profile exits in recent months. Nidhi Chaturvedi Jha quit Ola Electric as regional head in May and joined Amazon.

In April, chief marketing officer Varun Dubey left the company due to “personal reasons”.

Earlier, Dinesh Radhakrishnan, who was the chief technology officer (CTO) at Ola Electric, moved on from the company. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was appointed CTO at Ola Electric in May last year. Arun Sirdeshmukh who was head of Ola Cars, which is the used car commerce division of the company, also announced his departure from the company.

Bad days for Ola

Ola Electric again saw its sales dipping in the month of June, taking the company to fourth place in the overall category. It saw 5,869 electric scooters’ sales (as of June 30), according to the VAHAN data.

Ola Electric was the top EV player in the country in April and since then, it has seen its position sliding continuously.

Also read: Centre summons Ola, Okinawa officials over EV fires, looking at recall: Report

Ola recently shut down its used vehicle business Ola Cars as well as Ola Dash, its quick-commerce business, at a time when Indian companies are pouring money into the 10-15 minute grocery delivery market, reports ETAuto.

Ola has so far shut down Ola Cafe, food panda, Ola Foods, and now Ola Dash.