CHENNAI: Amid Ola’s plan to issue an initial public offering (IPO), two senior executives -- Slokarth Dash, head of planning and strategy and Saurabh Sharda, head of partnership and corporate affairs -- have left the company. Ola confirmed the development on Saturday.
“Slokarth and Saurabh have delivered well for the company for seven-plus years and we wish them well in their future pursuits,” it said in a statement. Both worked at a raid-hailing business before the electric division and are known to be close with the company’s Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal.
“At Ola, we’ve built a world-class and highly experienced leadership team and hired over 50 veterans just in last year from Indian and global firms like Tesla, Apple, LG, among others. India is the future hub for tech and top global talent is eagerly joining new-age companies like ours. Ola is the largest EV company in India, thanks to the efforts of our world-class team,” it said in response to the incident, quoting an unnamed spokesperson.
This comes at a time when the start-up eyes IPO early next year. However, the company has denied news reports of two other senior executives leaving the team.
Over 15 CXOs have left the firm in the last three years. While some of them are attributed to company restructuring, the reason for others’ exit are unknown.
Ola’s work culture and Co-founder and Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal’s actions have been criticised in the past as toxic and hostile work environment.