Ola Group HR head N Balachandar resigns: Report

N Balachandar, Senior Vice President and Group Chief People Officer at Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Group, has stepped down, reports ET. Balachandar joined Ola Electric as Chief Human Resources Officer in May 2021 and was later promoted to a group-level role the same year. He oversaw HR functions for Ola Cabs (now Ola Consumer), electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric, and AI startup Krutrim.

Citing an unnamed source, the report says that Balachandar has launched a management consultancy firm. "He had been in discussions with Bhavish (Aggarwal) for several months about stepping down and finally exited in November," the person said. Another source stated that Balachandar was approaching retirement and chose not to extend his tenure. He had communicated this decision to senior management and Aggarwal, the source added.

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Recent senior-level exits at Ola

Earlier this year in October, Ola Consumer chief business officer Siddharth Shakdher resigned within nine months of joining. During the same month, Ola Electric vice president and head of sales Mahesh Alanthat quit to join Samsung Mobile. Chief financial officer Kartik Gupta exited in May. The CEO of mobility business Hemant Bakshi also stepped down earlier this year.

Ola Electric cut 400 jobs

In 2024, Ola Electric also laid off 300-400 people across departments but mainly in manufacturing and supply-chain management roles last month.

Ola Electric, which went public in August this year, then disclosed a high employee attrition rate in the past. The company reported an attrition rate of 44.25% in FY24. In the ride-hailing sector, Ola has been losing market share to emerging competitors like WestBridge-backed Rapido and Google-backed Namma Yatri, according to industry sources.