Exclusive: Nine Months After Joining, Ola Consumer’s CBO Sidharth Shakdher Quits

Nine months after joining Ola Consumer (formerly known as Ola Cabs) as its global chief business officer (CBO), Sidharth Shakdher is exiting the startup, sources told Inc42. 

In his role as global CBO, Shakdher used to oversee Ola’s revenue, growth, and marketing efforts in India, and cab business in international markets. 

Shakdher put down his papers recently and will be with the startup for about few more weeks, the sources said. 

“He is leaving Ola Consumer to pursue something on his own,” one of the sources said, adding that the Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup will announce a new CBO soon.

A query mail sent to Ola didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. Shakdher didn’t respond to Inc42’s calls and messages. 

Shakdher has over 24 years of industry experience. Before joining Ola, he was the chief marketing officer at Disney+ Hotstar. Prior to that, he was the head of marketing and growth at Amazon.

The fresh development comes almost a month after Ola Cabs was rebranded as Ola Consumer. Aggarwal, during the Ola Group’s annual event on August 15, said Ola Consumer will offer a host of consumer services to make ecommerce more accessible, affordable and efficient. 

In his address, Aggarwal said that the company will address multiple consumer issues via Ola Consumer. Firstly, he announced the relaunch of ride sharing service Ola Share. The service, which allows users to get cheaper rides by sharing them with others, was to go live in Bengaluru, followed by a nationwide rollout. 

Under the service, Ola said that trip deviations would be limited to less than 20 minutes and a maximum of two people can avail a shared taxi under the model. 

The company also launched a loyalty programme, Ola Coin. Under this, users transacting on Ola platform will get personalised loyalty benefits which can be redeemed across mobility, ecommerce and logistics services of Ola. 

Earlier this year, Ola Cabs laid off around 10% of its workforce. Its Indian CEO Hemant Bakshi also resigned within months of joining. 

Founded in 2010, Ola Consumer competes against the likes of Uber, BluSmart, Rapido in the ride-hailing segment in the country. 

ANI Technologies, the parent entity of Ola Consumer, saw its operating revenue rise 42% year-on-year to INR 2,779.3 Cr in FY23. Its loss halved to INR 772.3 Cr during the year.