Bhavish Aggarwal Urges India to Make Money with ONDC Initiative
Founder Bhavish Aggarwal and Ola Mobility’s new CEO Hemant Bakshi announced that Ola’s India mobile business has turned “EBITDA positive in FY23”. Aggarwal also emphasized that Ola will focus on leveraging ONDC for further growth while driving electric rides and its premium Prime plus service.
ANI Technologies (Ola’s parent company) recently hired former Unilever executive Hemant Bakshi as its new CEO. Before joining Ola about four months ago, Bakshi was the marketplace’s vice president and president of Unilever Indonesia.
“India’s economic growth is unstoppable and we aim to serve one billion Indians. We are proud to serve India at scale with a broad and integrated ecosystem that empowers consumers and enables partners. As a technology-first company that leads innovation, we are confident that we can lead the country’s mobility goals and will lead the next phase of growth for the entire industry,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder, Chairman and MD, Ola.
According to the company, the turnover of Ola India’s mobile business from business and other income was Rs 3,000 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 2,120 crore in FY22. EBITDA loss excluding discontinued operations decreased by 23 rupees from 23 financial years. 291 cr in FY22. ANI Technologies Standalone (Olan’s India Mobility business) has seen a 48% increase in total revenue for FY23 to Rs 2135 crore from Rs 1350 crore in FY22. Meanwhile, the company’s standalone revenue was Rs 2,135 crore and segment adjusted EBITDA was around Rs 250 crore in FY23.
Responding to media queries on competition from new ride-hailing apps that charge less or no commission to its partner drivers, Aggarwal said, “No business model can survive by demanding 0% commission. India hai… paise toh banane padenge… To attract new users and increase initial market share for example, commissions or offers can help. We also gave many offers… but in the long term they cannot help growth.”
”No business model can sustain by claiming 0% commission. India hai… paise toh banane padenge… “
Ola aims to increase its market share by offering affordable rides on electric scooters and aims to leverage its technology and network for partners and consumers to expand its ONDC arm.
“Many people don’t fully understand ONDC. I think India has done a huge innovation with ONDC that other countries don’t have. India has differentiated trade and at the same time democratized it. It will gain traction over time. People like us need to commit to it. ONDC , the entire ecosystem can do well instead of one walled garden monetizing, and ONDC will dramatically increase the penetration of digital commerce in India,” Aggarwal said.
The company focused on core technologies and also moved to its own “Ola Maps” to drive efficiency and reduce costs.
“In the digital world of consumers, we have to master some core technologies and one of them is location services. In the past, we relied on “US companies” and their APIs for our location needs. One of the most important things in urban traffic is a good mapping solution, which can lead to better traffic estimates, more efficient routes, better landmarks and understanding of e.g. of newer points of interest. We invested in building our own Ola Maps before Covid and took steps step by step. Ola Maps was not made overnight. We hired early talent and didn’t make a lot of noise about it. Over the past few years, we have improved various aspects of the maps with custom features and high-quality data on Indian roads. We are constantly improving our algorithm. Currently, we mostly use Ola Maps for both driver partners and consumers,” he added.
