Ola Electric initiates another round of layoffs amid mounting losses

Amid mounting losses, EV player Ola Electric has trimmed its workforce by nearly 1,200- 1300 employees. This marks the second round of layoffs after the company let go of 500 employees in November.

Explaining the layoffs, a company source who wished to remain anonymous said, “The layoffs are more of an optimisation. In December, we opened 3,200 new stores, which meant adding a lot more people. At the same time, we optimised where necessary, if an asset or workforce was no longer needed, we had to let them go. It’s an ongoing, cyclical process where we hire more people while also letting go of some.”

In Q3 FY25, Ola reported a 50 percent increase in losses, reaching ₹564 crore. This follows an improvement in Q2FY25, when the company reduced its losses by 5 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹495 crore.

As of March 2024, the company had around 4,000 employees, including contract workers.. According to Bloomberg, the layoffs will impact both employees and contract workers.

Earlier in November, businessline reported that Ola Electric was undergoing a restructuring exercise that led to 500 job cuts as part of an effort to reduce redundancy, improve margins, and drive long-term profitability. The restructuring affected employees across various departments.

Not the first time

The EV player had conducted similar exercises previously in July 2022 and later in September 2022. In July, the company laid off approximately 1,000 employees and shut down three business verticals — used cars, cloud kitchens and grocery delivery. The organisation attributed the restructuring to its commitment to focus on the EV segment. In September 2022, the company conducted a second round of layoffs.

Shares of the company closed at ₹55.18 on the BSE, down 2.94 percent, hitting a 52-week low.