<ul><li><keyword id="2904207" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pranay-Jivrajka">Pranay Jivrajka</keyword>, one of the founding members of <keyword id="6354720" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola">Ola</keyword>, who was running its cloud kitchen vertical, has now left the company.</li><li>Jivrajka was elevated to the position of co-founder last year.</li><li>His reported exit comes as Ola had already seen seven top management exits last year alone.</li></ul>Ola, the Indian ride-hailing unicorn, which has driven its way into the electric vehicle world, continues to see exits in its top management. According to a report by <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/prime/technology-and-startups/as-bhavish-aggarwal-charts-new-growth-paths-ola-loses-pranay-jivrajka-co-founder-and-ex-coo/primearticleshow/81397859.cms">ET Prime,</a> Pranay Jivrajka, one of the founding members of Ola, who was running its cloud kitchen vertical, has now left the company. Ola confirmed the news to Business Insider, but said that for Jivrajka, who had been in the company for ten years, this was a natural progression. “We thank Pranay (Jivrajka) for his many contributions through the years and wish him the very best for his future endeavors,” said a spokesperson at Ola. Ola, founded in 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, counted Jivrajka as one of the most important members of the company. Jivrajka was elevated to the position of co-founder last year. Jivrajka’s reported exit comes as Ola had already seen seven top-level exits last year alone. Exits at Ola in 2020 <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Ankit Jain </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Co-founder, Ola Electric </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sanjay Bhan </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chief Business Officer, Ola Electric </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Arun Srinivas </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">COO and Global Chief marketing Officer, Ola </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sanjiv Saddy </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Senior Vice President, Ola </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Naroo Krishnan </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Head of Products at Ola Mobility </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sanjay Kharb </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Vice President for Engineering at Ola </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nitin Gupta </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">CEO, Ola Financial Services </td></tr></tbody></table> Ola, which had taken a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic as people stayed home and avoided venturing outdoors, has shifted gears recently. Just a few months after it acquired the Dutch startup Etergo, <keyword id="4393078" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola-Electric">Ola Electric</keyword> in December announced a ₹2,400 crore ($320 million) investment plan to set up, what it calls, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/bhavish-aggarwal-led-ola-showcases-its-first-electric-scooter-aims-to-operate-1-crore-bikes-by-2022/articleshow/81394484.cms">biggest electric scooter </a>manufacturing plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The plant would have an annual capacity of producing 10 million EVs by 2022, with one scooter being rolled out every two seconds.

Ola loses another founding member as Pranay Jivrajka leaves the ride-hailing giant

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55996128.cms" />Last week, Founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Indian ride sharing service Ola</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bhavish+aggarwal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bhavish Aggarwal</a>, was quite vocal about his thoughts on pitching domestic companies and had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian Government to promote Indian companies more than the foreign ones. But, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> should not have much to worry about because of the technology it has been innovating since past three years. 
 
Ola has grown leaps and bounds riding on its tech-based solutions to help drivers as well as customer to assure a seamless riding experience. In an <keyword id="6370284" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Exclusive">exclusive</keyword> interview to Business Insider, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=pranay+&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka </a>said how Ola was using technology to cater to customers as well as the drivers. 
 “Technology has been at the heart of building mobility for India. We have to constantly innovate to cater to more customers, bring down cost price by bringing more efficiency; increase driver and consumer experience; and create some sort of loyalty and engagement in the customers. There has been a lot of <keyword id="94495" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Innovation">innovation</keyword> and we have to bridge the constraints of the present infrastructure and ensure we give a superior experience,” Jivrajka told Business Insider. 
 
Ola has been rolling out products to bring in more options in mobility in India. From Ola Share to Ola Play, the ride-hailing service is constantly working on creating an inclusive environment. 
 
“Ola came up with its Ola Share three years back to cater to ever increasing need. Thereafter, we expanded services to auto, bikes, shuttles, etc and made the most of technology on the same platform,” said Jivrajka. 
 
Ola is world’s first cab aggregator to provide in-car experience with auto connect wi-fi. This was the first thing in Ola innovation in-car experience. It introduced Ola Play, which focuses on entertainment. 
 
Meanwhile, as there is not much in mobility space in India, there is always a threat of increasing competition from the foreign companies. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>, which has vowed to increase its focus in India and rake in money, can pose a threat to Ola, which is number one in India, with its money might. 
 
However, industry experts do not feel so. Experts say Uber hasn’t innovated and has only adapted to the market needs. It brought smaller cars in India and UberShare that are not innovations but market understandings. 
 
This way, Ola has an edge as it can fall back on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=innovation&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">innovation</a>. 
 
“Ola Play is focussed on entertainment which has tremendous possibilities for developers to innovate and build on that. We are connecting the online world with the offline one. You will know who the customer is, the behaviour patterns, where is the customer going, what are the likings, etc. We can actually put things in the right context that are relevant for the user. That is a powerful platform that we will see flourishing in next quarters,” said Jivrajka. 
 
“Ola Play involves some amount of configuration changes and installations in the car. We are further ramping it up, for now we have it in three cities-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru as we have few cars in Prime category and the experience is magical. We are working in integrating partners and building more features at some point of time. Apple is already live; we will have best partners in the world for Ola Play. Apple Music, Sony entertainment, etc,” he added. 
 
Talking about tech investments, Jivrajka said more than 1000 people work in tech engineering, product and data enhancement, who are working to build solutions. 
 
“Tech has a significant play in being where we are. And all these innovations have helped us in leading market. We have been doing this since 5-6 years. Tech is going to drive consumer experience,” said Jivrajka.

Exclusive: Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka says technology is the ace up its sleeves

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55498418.cms" /> 
 <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> is a homegrown brand that all of us have learned to depend on for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Restaurant-Week-Dinner-at-Olive-Bar-Kitchen/articleshow/54567808.cms">our transportation needs. </a>In a recent chat with <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>, <keyword id="339753" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pranay">Pranay</keyword> Jivrajka, COO, Ola talked about Ola’s rollercoaster ride starting from a call center. Ola started with two categories; rentals and outstations as a core business. From just English, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-Snapdeal-and-Shopclues-agree-Demonetization-has-been-a-boon-in-disguise/articleshow/55477332.cms">Ola is now available in nine languages to run smoothly </a>in 102 Indian cities. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Olas-COO-talks-about-all-the-aces-to-take-on-competition-from-Uber-in-2017/articleshow/55477059.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Ola’s COO talks about all the aces the company has up its sleeves to take on competition from Uber in 2017</a> 
 
In the last one year, Ola has pivoted to 8-9 categories under the platform and Pranay said that it’s because of the patrons. He said ‘We have realized is that there has been a lot of behavioral change that has happened in consumers in terms of how they consume mobility. This has become a utilitarian need. The experience that we are trying to deliver at different price points, because the market is very heterogeneous’ 
 
We decided to take you on a ride through Ola’s categories that have been created because of what your mobility needs are. Take a look.

These are Ola’s biggest product innovations created as a result
of direct user insights

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55374665.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 Cab aggregators like <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> and <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> have become an essential part of our lives for just the sheer amount of convenience they provide. Except for the surge-pricing which is a mild inconvenience for us, our lives have become much simpler with these on-demand cars. 
 Every state government has been dealing with the continuous strikes by the kali- peeli taxi unions and auto rickshaw <keyword id="44435" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="drivers">drivers</keyword>. <keyword id="13126" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Maharashtra">Maharashtra</keyword> government had released the draft for Maharashtra City Taxi Rules, 2016, to regulate app-based operators but these rules are detrimental to the ecosystem itself. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Now-you-can-list-your-car-for-rent-and-get-paid-for-it/articleshow/55154351.cms">ALSO READ: Now, you can list your car for rent when it's not in use and get paid for it</a> 
 
According to the guidelines, an application for grant or renewal of a license for a taxi will cost INR 1,00,000 and on top of that the license itself will cost INR 25,000 for cars up to engine capacity of 1,400 CC and for higher capacity engines typically sedans, the license will cost INR 2,61,000! Between Ola and Uber there are about 20,000-40,000 cars plying in the state, and about half of them are sedans according to Ola. 
 
Now, as taxi-aggregators are just a platform, these costs, if implemented will be transferred to drivers and then, ultimately consumers. <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> caught up with two Ola drivers to find out how this will affect their already dwindling livelihoods. 
 <keyword id="3836339" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="jia-ul-haq">Jia-Ul-Haq</keyword>, a car operator said- ‘While Ola has given us a lot of employment, our salaries have been decreasing, year-on-year. The new guidelines will leave us with nothing and close to the brink of poverty. We are already paying for auto loans, car insurance and this will make sure that we don’t even get the INR 20,000, which we earn right now.’ 
 <keyword id="1194067" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mohammed-Nazim">Mohammed Nazim</keyword> who works with four Ola drivers said,’ Where is the development in this? It is all about the inconvenience. The cost will be ultimately transferred to the customers otherwise these charges will put us further into debt.’ 
 
Pranay Jivrajka, COO, Ola talked to us to talk about an alternative scheme which is very inclusive in nature and enables and gives an opportunity for aggregators to bring all forms of mobility on the platform. This also allows the traditional cabs to join. 

	 
	He said ‘If a driver has to buy a vehicle, he saves up INR 40-70,000 right now to get the car on road, but permit costs are projected to get as high as INR 3.5 lakh. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/A-survey-reveals-60-of-employed-Indians-aspire-to-be-entrepreneurs/articleshow/55152360.cms">It will be quite difficult for a driver to turn into an entrepreneur.</a> No one gives loans on permits fees. This will drastically impact the growth of supply and therefore growth of industry.’ 
	 
	All of this, in the financial capital of India, where the taxi unions <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Nazara-is-creating-mobile-games-for-cricketers-like-Virat-Kohli-and-Sachin-Tendulkar/articleshow/55371180.cms">seem to be running the show, instead of their vehicles.</a>

EXCLUSIVE: Your Uber, Ola rides could get much more expensive if it were up to the Maharashtra government

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53001564.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" />In a recent blog post, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>’s first full time employee and current Chief Operating Officer Ola COO <keyword id="2904207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Pranay-Jivrajka">Pranay Jivrajka</keyword> has leveled serious charges against segment competitor Uber. He alleges the latter is fanning ‘a debate of nationalism to hide their identity of being a multi-national’. He also alleges the competition has ‘serial violations of law as an integral part of its business strategy’. 
 
In his post Jivrajka claims Ola has partnered with the Indian government, even at a ‘serious business expense’ to itself. He says the onus is on the business to work with the Government and evolve the ecosystem further in a partnership mode. Citing the example of Uber’s ‘card on file’ payment system and bike taxis in Gurgaon, Jivrajka claims the competition is running a business despite ‘multiple notices and seizures of hundreds of vehicles.’ 
 
The company executive goes on to say that while during the Delhi Diesel ban, Ola was committed to 100% CNG adoption, Uber continued to ply diesel vehicles with ‘absolute disregard for the state and the court of law’. 
 On Monday, Ola filed in the <keyword id="6371973" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Karnataka-High-Court">Karnataka High Court</keyword> saying that it has complied with all requirements to continue operating. This was to counter to a petition by rival <keyword id="2502101" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber-India">Uber India</keyword> which challenged the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016. 
 
Ola said Uber’s petition is motivated in an “attempt to bypass the laws of the land by foreign companies who run their operations in this country for profit without due regard for the applicable laws”. 
 
Both Ola and Uber have been fighting a bloody price war to gain market share in India.

Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka calls Uber ‘disrespectful’ of
India’s laws

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55477534.cms" /> 
 About a week after the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, e-commerce giants <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, and <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword> unanimously hailed the government’s decision, because it halted to a great extent, big problem area-Cash on Delivery, forcing more and more people to transact online. 
 <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword> from Flipkart, Snapdeal's <keyword id="219793" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kunal-Bahl">Kunal Bahl</keyword>, <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword> from Shopclues and Pranay Jivrajka, COO at Ola, all of whom had gathered in the <keyword id="3857177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="capital-city-delhi">capital city Delhi</keyword> for an event on digital start-ups said how this move has been positive for their businesses and will be positive for the economy in the long haul. 
 
Discontinuation of higher valuation notes has led to a 15-30% fall in COD orders. Sachin Bansal from Flipkart said,’ This move is forward-looking as we are moving to become data-focused as a company.' 
 
"At some point in time, it was (COD) at 70 % for us and then it came down to 50 per cent. It is now at 30 percent. While it might go up a bit, we expect the ratio to hover around the current level," Kunal Bahl commented. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Olas-COO-talks-about-all-the-aces-to-take-on-competition-from-Uber-in-2017/articleshow/55477059.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Ola’s COO talks about all the aces the company has up its sleeves to take on competition from Uber in 2017</a> 
​ 
Snapdeal, which had acquired<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-pros-and-cons-of-e-wallets-like-Paytm-Freecharge-and-Mobikwik/articleshow/55437683.cms"> Freecharge</a> last year, said that the e-wallet has seen a tremendous increase in transactions and digital payments have made the operations processes smoother for them. 
 
"What is important is that we (in the sector) will have to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/In-a-first-Ola-launches-credit-for-ride-share/articleshow/55461416.cms">make digital payments more convenient, secure and rewarding for consumers," he added.</a> 
 
Following the announcement on the evening of November 8, most e-commerce companies had either limited orders or banned COD for some days. 
 
"It would take around 35 to 60 days for things to be normal. For us, tier-II and tier-III areas performed much better than metropolitans, as most of the orders from were paid in advance. Our COD percentage is actually a lot more in metropolitans," said Sanjay Sethi from Shopclues. He mentioned that in the first four days, there was a sale fall of about 15 percent but now it is normalizing. 
 
But why would these giants be so pleased with doing away with COD, which is a boon for consumers? Well, that’s because the cash received on delivery usually takes several extra days to process, therefore reflect on the books. Also, there is the huge problem of customers returning COD orders on account of dissatisfaction with the products delivered and not paying the amount, in which case it’s quite a loss for the company. 
 
COD never made much business sense but while being an innovation in this space, it was mostly a consumer winning over tactic employed by e-commerce players to increase footfalls.

Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues agree: Demonetization
has been a boon in disguise

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51699206.cms" /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> today introduced <keyword id="6403560" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="e-rickshaws">E-rickshaws</keyword> in Delhi NCR. The first <keyword id="3311609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola-e-rickshaw">Ola E-rickshaw</keyword> will be booked by Prime Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Narendra+Modi&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Narendra Modi</a> at the launch of the ‘<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Stand-Up+India&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Stand-Up India</a>’ initiative. The service is set to be operational from next week. 
 
The company plans to deploy around 5,100 e-rickshaws in total with approx 1,000 each across Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad. This will happen in partnership with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bhartiya+Micro+Credit&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bhartiya Micro Credit</a> (BMC). 
 When asked why the company started with the nation’s capital, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> Spokesperson <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Subramanian&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Subramanian</a> said, “While Delhi may be pretty well-connected, a Ghaziabad or Faridabad may be lacking in last mile delivery options. We’re bringing that option to smaller cities.” 
 
Ola maintains the model will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and tier III cities across the country. Driver partners will pay Ola 10% commission for being on the platform. 
 
The fact is over 60% of India’s population is residing in small towns across the country, and there are over 5 million cycle rickshaws across India. While the potential might seem huge, the big question is if Ola’s tariff of Rs. 25 for the first 2 kilometers will help tap into a market dominated primarily by unorganized hyper-local shared e-rickshaw services. 
 
Enabling <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ride-sharing&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ride-sharing</a> might reduce fares to 30-40% of the current costs. However, Ola COO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Pranay+Jivrajka&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Pranay Jivrajka</a> says that might take a while, “Sharing is a little complicated. The idea is to firstly equip them (e-rickshaw drivers) with technological solutions. As we see confidence in driver partners, we’ll go as far as soon as possible.” 
Simply put, ride-sharing for e-rickshaws will take a while. 
 
Anand explains, “Sharing is also a question of scale. It has taken us considerable time, understanding and necessary scale to create a ride-sharing model for cabs. For e-rickshaws the use-case and user demographics are different.” 
Will the ‘online taxi aggregator’ model work in a hyper-local market where money is king, and cheaper is better? That’s what we’ll have to wait and watch. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Ola’s E-Rickshaws – will it work?

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/55477270.cms" /> 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Your-Uber-Ola-rides-could-get-much-more-expensive-if-it-were-upto-the-Maharashtra-government/articleshow/55374515.cms">Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer of Ola, </a>also half the company’s brain power along with Founder and CEO <keyword id="1553134" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhavish-Agarwal">Bhavish Agarwal</keyword>, has seen the company grow from a call center in Mumbai to reaching 102 dynamic cities of India. Given the size of the task at hand, Pranay is always shuttling between cities at top neck speed. It is during one such dash from Bangalore to Delhi that we stole an hour from him, asking him about all the aces <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> has up its sleeves for the next year. For a company that is facing stiff competition from its biggest competitor in India, the global deep-pocketed Uber, Pranay seemed very much at ease discussing some of the finest details of Ola’s path to domination in the rather fast-growing and exuberant cab aggregator space. 
 
 
Q. Ola’s growth has been phenomenal in the past three years. What is going to be Ola’s areas of growth in the coming months? 
 
Pranay: The industry is evolving at a very fast pace. 
We had rentals and outstations as a core business and went into point-to-point and pivoted the model, saw that this is the real opportunity improve that for 3-4 years. Over the last one year, we have got 8-9 categories under the platform. We’ll have very strong focus on shared mobility and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Restaurant-Week-Dinner-at-Olive-Bar-Kitchen/articleshow/54567808.cms">local innovation in terms of how can we further improve customer and driver experience.</a> 
 
Q. What are the cities that have really done well in terms of shared mobility, which is also why I ask you why such focus on shared mobility? 
 
Pranay: In a supply constrained market and shared mobility helps you decongest at least 30, 40, 50 cars – a shared cab for a day running on Ola would serve at least 30, 40 50 customers depending upon the city. The price points at which it comes is obviously cheaper because you are sharing it with the other person and you are also in some way or the other contributing to the environment. 
 
Q. Does a significant portion of rides happen on Ola Share? 
 Pranay: The big markets are all in similar range– between 20 to 40%. All the seven big cities would be in this range when it comes to the contribution of Ola Share in the overall rides that we do in that city like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword>. We have OlaShare in 15 cities currently. 
 
Q. When you are talking about cities that you are present in, what is the idea or what is the criteria that you look at before you enter a city? 
 
Pranay: When we started we had a comprehensive understanding of what all is needed right from the population, the number of bridges that you have in the city, does it have an airport or a railway station. How well are those connected? Is there a public transport system? How many people use that intuitively? How are autos there? Do they run on the meter? How is the regulatory state government? What are the fuel options available? Then how many hospitals you have, how many schools you have, how many colleges you have, how many big corporates you have. So, these are like some of the parameters and eventually by mapping these parameters – we mapped more than 250 cities when we launched eventually came down to 102 cities to understand what should be the stack ranking of cities in which we are penetrating. Then we also see how is the city connected well. 
 
Q. So, with Ola Outstation facility, you have access to about 500 cities? What innovations are happening in this space? 
 Pranay. <keyword id="51958" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="YES">Yes</keyword>. Recently we started one-way trips where you don’t have to pay for the round-trip. So, if you book a cab for <keyword id="6356295" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agra">Agra</keyword> from Delhi – so far you have to pay for the round-trip even if you are going one side , except that now we have started with one-way trips where you have almost 55% of the ride cost that you have to pay. The driver will get a business from Agra and by using navigation he can run his cab in Agra for a while and then eventually come back. This is something that we are contemplating and should be implemented by March 2017. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/In-a-first-Ola-launches-credit-for-ride-share/articleshow/55461416.cms">ALSO READ: In a first, Ola launches credit for ride-share</a> 
 
Q. There is this whole apprehension that Ola is running out of cash and it’s been written about and spoken about so many times. Please set the record straight. 
 
Pranay: We are reasonably capitalized, well capitalized at the moment. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-pros-and-cons-of-e-wallets-like-Paytm-Freecharge-and-Mobikwik/articleshow/55437683.cms">There are certain speculations out in the market that Ola is raising funds or Ola has raised some funds. </a>But I would say that these are speculations and it will be hard for me to comment on that. If you ask me are you looking for funds or not, then I would say it is a constant journey, and if the opportunities arise and the market is hot obviously regardless of whether you need money or not, you will go ahead.

EXCLUSIVE: Ola’s COO talks about all the aces the company has up its sleeves to take on competition from Uber in 2017

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51437918.cms" />Following the crackdown on diesel taxis in Delhi-NCR, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ola">Ola</a> is increasing its fleet of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=CNG+cars">CNG-fitted cabs</a>. 
 <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, which already has 20,000 CNG cars, will be adding over 5,000 cabs in coming weeks and infusing Rs 200 crore for the same. 
 
"Ola is planning to expand its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=fleet+of+cab">fleet</a> of CNG cabs in Delhi by adding more than 5,000 cabs in the next one week. We have brought together car manufacturers, banks and financiers and valuation platforms to enable heavy discounts, loan offers and on spot valuation and exchange," said Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka. 
 
Ola is also giving lucrative offers to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=drivers">drivers</a> of saving up to Rs 1.5 lakh on exchanging their old diesel vehicles for a new CNG one in next six months. 
 
"This is the largest amongst a series of programs rolled out by Ola to encourage CNG adoption in Delhi-NCR. By the next week, the intent is to ramp up by at least 25 per cent,” said Pranay. 
 
With over 3,50,000 vehicles registered on its platform, Ola offers services across 102 cities in India.

Ola is pumping Rs 200 crore to increase fleet of CNG cabs in Delhi-NCR

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51239822.cms" /> <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, which is India's largest mobility app, has started piloting Bike Taxis in Bengaluru after introducing bus services, thus strengthening its place in the mobility market. 
 
The bike taxis would run at an introductory fare of Rs 2/km and Re 1 per minute of trip time would be added to the bill. In a statement by Ola, the minimum fare is reported to be Rs 30. 
 
Pranay Jivrajka, Ola’s COO said, "We expect significant demand in the pilot phase and we will continue to scale this service up in the coming weeks to cover more areas in the city." 
 On the other hand, Ola’s prime rival <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> has also announced the experiment of offering Bike taxis in Bengaluru, but at a higher cost of Rs 3/km. The minimum fare in Uber bike taxi rides would be Rs 15. 
 
<a href="http://blog.olacabs.com/ola-bike-taxis-launched-in-bangalore/">Image source</a>

Ola hits at Uber with cheaper bike taxis in Bengaluru

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51714951.cms" />Much like the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>-<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amazon&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Amazon</a> tussle in India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> space, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>-<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> battle in the online cab aggregation sector is also heating up. 
 
Looking to dominate India’s $9 billion industry, both taxi-hailing apps are promising hundreds of millions in new investment, and are willing to go that extra mile to offer Indians a ride, and more. The battle for the Indian market has even been dragged from the streets to the Court. 
 
Here are a few grounds where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> locked horns, just to get a bigger piece of the Indian pie: 
 
Raw Money Power: 
Looking at the lack of adequate public transport in Indian cities, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> have together promised an hefty investment of over $2.25 billion in India. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> reportedly plans to pump over $500 million by June in India. This is over and above the $1 billion already committed over the past nine months. That is some serious money. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> hasn’t been left wanting either. It has promised to add another 2,000 cars to its existing fleet of 26,000 in the nation’s capital. It is backed by the likes of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=SoftBank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">SoftBank</a>, and some of the most cash-rich VCs in the world. 
 
WiFi in Autos? 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> both began offering in-car WiFi last year. 
 
However, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> has been pulling out all its stock to go up against <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>. The company plans to launch WiFi services in the budget cab segment, and even its auto-rickshaws. 
 
Some wonder how that's humanly possible at the current cost. 
 
Legal Battles: 
Interestingly, both taxi aggregators have been in legal wrangles. 
 
In October 2015, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> filed a legal petition, accusing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> of flouting a Supreme Court order demanding app-based taxis in New Delhi switch from running on diesel to using CNG (compressed natural gas). 
 
A few months on, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> recently sued <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> for allegedly creating 93,000 fake <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> accounts, and tampering its businesses. The company has been seeking around $7.4 million in damages. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> claims <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> employees used bogus accounts to book and cancel a whopping 400,000 rides over the last six months. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> allegedly had to pay high cancellation charges to drivers due to this. It claims around 20,000 drivers quit the platform in frustration. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> officials 'categorically deny’ <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>'s allegations of fraud. Senior officials Anand Subramanian and Rahul Maroli told Business Insider they 'stand by' their statement. 
 
Accusations: Both <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> have been accused of wrong-doing. 
 
Recently, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Paytm&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Paytm</a>-backed online transportation app <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> alleged Ola has adopted unethical practices against it. In a blog post, the company claims Ola employees made fake bookings, and tried to hamper its operations. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> CEO Samar Singla has said his team saw a sudden surge in bookings and cancelations. According to him, around 20,000 cancelations were made through 800 accounts over a 10-day period earlier this month. In December, the auto-rickshaw aggregator had accused Ola of poaching employees and driver database in Chandigarh. 
 
Uber has made similar claims against Ola. Ola spokesperson <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Subramanian&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Subramanian</a> maintains this to be Uber’s way of ‘payback’ for the legal petition Ola filed, accusing Uber of flouting a Supreme Court order. 
 
Interestingly, Uber’s rivals <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Lyft&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Lyft</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Gett&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Gett</a> had in 2014 complained against the aggregator of making false bookings, and recruiting Lyft and Gett driver partners for its own service. 
 
Experiments gone wrong: 
In an attempt to find new battlegrounds, Ola and Uber both launched their bike-taxi services in India’s Bengaluru on the very same day. 
 It seems both knew of each other’s plans and neither wanted to be left behind. However, neither was fully ready. Several users claimed not a single <keyword id="3149752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bike-taxi">bike taxi</keyword> was visible. 
 
Both were offering extremely competitive rates. Ola has a per km rate of Rs 2, and a minimum fare of Rs 30. Uber has a per km rate of Rs 3 and a minimum fare of Rs 15. 
 
However, Ola was forced to roll back its service a few days later after the Karnataka state government said that India’s Motor Vehicle Act doesn’t have a provision for two wheelers to be used as taxis. Simply put, the bike taxi services were illegal. 
 
When asked about the same, Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka refused to comment on the issue. 
 
However, Uber bike taxis continue to ply on Bengaluru’s (earlier Bangalore) roads. 
 
This isn’t the first time this has happened. As rival Uber was turning up the heat, Ola started experimenting with hyper-local food and grocery delivery. 
 
It was later forced to shut these and focus on serving its core business. Although, it went on an overdrive, introducing new categories like Micro, Prime, a shuttle bus service and carpooling in a very short span. 
 
Regulatory hassles: 
While Uber has been facing regulatory hassles worldwide, and has the muscle to lobby for friendlier policies, Ola is still pretty new to such complications in business. 
 
Recently, Indian state Karnataka stood firm on not allowing surge pricing for app-based ride hailing services such as Ola and Uber. In the state, online taxi aggregators operate as ride-hailing service under a license obtained under the Radio Taxi Scheme, 1988. 
 
The policy says the charged fare cannot be higher than the fare fixed by the government. That means transport apps have to charge within a band where the upper limit is capped. Ola COO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Pranay+Jivrajka&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Pranay Jivrajka</a> told BI the company's 'working together' with the state government to find a feasible solution. 
 
Way back in August, in a major setback to Ola Cabs, the Delhi High Court dismissed its plea challenging a single-judge order upholding Delhi government's ban on such taxi services. 
 
While Ola argued that non-app based taxi organizations also come under the Radio Taxi Scheme, and that Ola doesn’t own these vehicles anyway, the Delhi government had said the All India Tourist Permit (AITP) vehicles that operate under Ola brand are meant for tourist destinations and not point-to-point service in city. 
 
Online taxi aggregators were finally legalized. 
 
Chest Thumping 
Ola and Uber have both thrown around numbers that hardly make sense if put together. 
 
In a recent interview, Ola’s Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Categories Raghuvesh Sarup said, "In three weeks, we have put up a category (Ola Micro) which is already 50% of all of Uber's daily bookings in the country. The rate at which Micro is growing, it will be larger than their entire brand within a month." 
 
On the other hand, Eric Alexander, President of Uber's Asia business, in an interview said his company was on the verge of overtaking Ola in India. "In January last year, we were at five per cent market share. Now, we are right at the edge of 50 per cent. Within next 30 days, we would beat them (Ola). We will surpass them very, very shortly." 
 
The statistics are even more confusing. Ola claims it holds 75% of the Indian app-based taxi-hailing market, with over 350,000 driver partners on its platform across the country, while Uber claims otherwise. 
 
As the cut-throat fight between Uber and Ola continues, some say it’s reminiscent of Uber’s tussle with Lyft in the U.S. The two San Francisco-based rivals were constantly undercutting each other’s tariffs, poaching each other’s drivers and duplicating services. 
 
Let’s just say its the same war, but with some Indian masala.

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