Coronavirus bites Indian startups: Now, Ola fires 1400 people, calls it toughest decision

The coronavirus crisis has hit the Indian startups hard with several of them being forced to lay off their employees. Zomato and Swiggy have already announced that they will let go off a major part of their workforce. Now, Ola has joined the list with cab aggregator announcing that it will let go of 1400 employees due to COVID-19 impact. The information was passed on to the employees in an email by Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal who described it as the toughest decision he has had to take. 

"In these circumstances, today I write to all of you with the toughest decision I have ever taken – the need to downsize our organization and let go of 1400 of our valued employees. I am filled with a lot of emotion and sadness as I write this email, but also with strong hope and resolve to rebuild our business, and create the future that we envision, together, he said in the mail. 

Describing the challenges, he said initially they expected the crisis to be short but it had become increasingly clear that things won't go back to normal with more and more people working from home. 

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“The fallout of the virus has been very tough for our industry in particular. Our revenue has come down 95% over the past 2 months. Most importantly, this crisis has affected the livelihoods of millions of our drivers and their families across India and our international geographies. In this moment, various teams across the group have pursued, in spite of the many constraints, to serve drivers, citizens, and the nation at large,” the mail. 

Ola counts SoftBank, Microsoft and Tiger Global among its investors. 

The company said that every affected employee will receive a minimum financial payout of 3 months of their fixed salary, irrespective of the notice period. Beyond this, those employees who have spent significantly more time with Ola will be eligible for higher payouts depending on tenure.