OLA, Its Payback Time

Enough OLA..!! It's PayBack Time..!!!
OLA (means Hello, in Spanish) is a pioneer in the Indian Cab Aggregation segment and is clearly the
market leader so far, by amalgamating Technology with Business and has shown the Indian market,
the power of the right startup. The mantle has been lit with a very thorough research of the US based
cab aggregator company, Uber and its complete working model.
OLA did nothing new and simply copied Uber

in India, and projected the idea as if it is their
own. With the IIT Alumni tags to their
Engineering certificates and with some big
connections, Bhavish & Ankit has veiled
the facts and the pain-points of the business
and garnered some good seed investment.
Being the Early Implementer of Technology-based Cab Aggregation Business Model in India, OLA
had some serious buyers for the idea and started to pour-in the money, Ola have demanded for. With
this, Ola leave no stone unturned, and began to grow exponentially to capture almost 90% of the total
market share, by feeding on the then existing taxi companies. The investors were happy with the
growth projected Y-o-Y and were under the impression that they will all make money, the moment Ola
becomes numero uno ini the Indian market. This was the case till late 2013.
The situation got upside down with the Big Brother (Uber) entering into the Indian market. Ola lost
almost half of its market share till date and is currently holding less than 49% of the total market
share, chased by Uber @ 35% , Meru @ 12% and other players occupy the rest.
Apart from losing the market share on a fast path, Ola's revenue margins too have dropped
drastically. Speculations went ripe with regards to the consolidation of the Indian Cab Aggregation
market, with the recent industry headlines viz.,
1.
Ola finds it difficult to raise fresh funding from the Investors;
2.
Uber sells its China operations to rival;
3.
Uber takes 17% stake in its Chinese rival, Didi Chuxing, which in turn, invested in Ola;
4.
Ola lays off close to 1000 employees (Ola-250; TaxiForSure - 750);
5.
Ola closes FY 2015-2016 with a whopping loss of $112 millions (approx INR 750 Crores);
6.
Ola has not even reached the Break Even Level till date, even after 6 Years into Operations.
Things went terribly wrong when ANI Technologies (parent company of OLA) has re-called the Offer
Letters issued to the IIM Students in 2015. Now IIMs are not responding to the 'Campus selections'
request application of Ola. Thus, Bhavish & Ankit have lost their much-fluttered IIT Alumni tags. In
consideration of all the facts and figures, the current investors are not ready to pump-in more money
required for Ola's smooth operations and there is no sign of new investors, thus making the matters
more worse, than expected.
Ola's main office in Bangalore is a plush 5 storied building having a estimated 40,000 square feet per
floor. The mezzanine floor (or the public-accessible floor) is heavily guarded with close to 60 bouncers
monitoring the floor and ready to pounce on anyone who misbehaves, apart from the regular security
and a series of check points. To be honest, even RBI's (India's apex bank) Security Printing Press @
Nashik too will not have so much security. As a common man, I have my own doubts now.
1.
Why a Cab Aggregation company like Ola should have so much Security..??
(Are Indian Cab Drivers are that rude to handle..??)
2.
Why Ola needs so much big Office space, when they are reducing their staff, in the name of
cost-cutting measures..??
3.
Why Ola is maintaining offices not listed on their website..?? Is this their Transparency..??
4.
Why Ola is employing 3rd Party vendors to book the cabs of their competitors and cancel
them before utilizing their services..?? Is this called Fair Practice & Business Ethics..??
(Remember legal battle between Uber & Ola, which is still pending..??)
5.
How Ola is running its vehicles irrespective of non-compliance of both the State & Central
Governments, while Uber is finding it difficult to operate..?? Are there some big-heads backing Ola..??
6.
Why Ola's investors are silent when Ola is operating in negative balance sheets, right from its
1st year of operations..?? What is the current stake-holding pattern in Ola..??
7.
When Ola is flashing losses Y-o-Y, how Bhavish (or his Family) can dare to purchase a $4.5
million property in the heart of Bangalore city..?? Is the Company money being routed out through
other means..??
8.
Is there something fishy which is going-on behind the un-accessible doors of Ola..?? Are they
following any such practices behind those closed doors..??
9.
Does Ola has any plans to show some good numbers to its Investors..?? If not, is there
any Plan B for the Ola's founders..??
OLA.. Its enough now..!! You have left us with so many unanswered questions till date and it is the
time that we have the right to know the facts. Its your time to respond. It's Your PayBack Time, for
your Customers, for your Investors and for the Government, as well.

OLA, Its Payback Time

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Enough OLA..!! It's PayBack Time..!!!

OLA did nothing new and simply copied Uber

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