Ola sees another C-suite level exit as Karthik Gupta, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola Cabs, has stepped down, according to people in the know.
Karthik’s departure comes nearly two weeks after Ola Cabs’ CEO Hemant Bakshi quit. Gupta had joined Ola Cabs seven months ago and had responsibilities across financial strategy, growth, regulatory compliance, tax, treasury, and investor relations, as per his LinkedIn.
Before joining Ola, Gupta worked as the Vice-President and Regional CFO of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa of Procter and Gamble for nearly 17 years.
Restructuring
“As part of an ongoing restructuring, Ola Mobility CFO Kartik Gupta has stepped down from the company. This restructuring is aimed at productivity enhancement in an AI-led era that is redefining the cab-hailing industry globally. The restructuring will allow Ola to strengthen cost structures, focus on growth and increase its bottom line,” confirmed the company in its statement.
Bakshi, the CEO of Ola Cabs, quit barely four months into the role. The Ola group is in the middle of a restructuring exercise, which would affect at least 10 per cent of staff.
The firm recently roped in co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal’s brother Ankush Aggarwal into the ride-hailing business as part of the CXO team along with Gupta and chief business officer Sidharth Shakdher.
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Ola Cabs last month initiated preliminary discussions with investment banks for an IPO. While Ola Electric, has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator in December to raise around ₹7,250 crores via an IPO, the first attempt at public listing by an Indian electric vehicle firm.
Recently, Ola Cabs shut down its international operations in some countries amid rising competition, the governments’ fleet electrification targets, and the firm’s overall shift towards the Indian market.
In FY23, Ola’s Mobility business reported a revenue of ₹2,135 crore, up nearly 58 per cent, and for the first time, the firm reported a positive EBITDA of ₹250 crore after reporting ₹66 crore of EBITDA loss in FY22.
ANI Technologies, the parent entity of Ola Fleet, Ola Financial Services, Ola Cabs and Ola Stores, reported a consolidated revenue of ₹2,799 crore, up nearly 42 per cent year-on-year despite a reduction in revenue from Ola Fleet and Ola Financial Service.