Ola To Shut Infotainment Service Ola Play

Bhavish Aggarwal-led ride-hailing startup Ola, in a public notice in a leading Indian newspaper, on Friday (November 11) said that it will soon shut one of its ride segments called ‘Ola Play’ in India.

Launched in 2016, Ola Play is an in-cab infotainment service through which Ola provides its customers access to music, videos, and other such services. The startup said in the public notice that the service will be closed from November 15 and that it has already taken appropriate measures to remove the segment from the market.

“Ola restricts any third party from any kind of usage, modification or transfer of device more particularly during the ride hailing services,” the notice by Ola’s parent entity ANI Technologies read.

“In the event, there is any unauthorized usage of the device after the effective date, Ola or its affiliates, any of its respective directors, officers, employees, agents shall not be liable for direct, indirect and consequential damages arising out of its usage or any incidental or ancillary act,” the notice added.

The development was first reported by Economic Times. The company was not immediately available to respond to Inc42’s query about the issue. 

The idea behind launching Ola Play was to provide a more relevant in-cab experience to increase loyalty and retention. Ola also partnered with companies like Qualcomm, Mahindra and Mahindra, Sony LIV, and Apple Music to provide an interactive experience to Ola cab users.

The decision to shut Ola Play service comes at a time when Uber is reportedly piloting in-car tablets for showing ads and other value-added services to its riders in Delhi and Mumbai.

It is also pertinent to note that Ola is aggressively trying to focus more on its electric mobility entity Ola Electric. This has led to several changes in Ola’s core business in the past few months.

In September, Ola laid off 200 employees from software engineering profiles. In fact, as per Inc42’s layoff tracker, Ola has laid off 2,100 employees so far in 2022. The number could be even higher as Ola recently shut down its used-car division Ola Cars and quick-commerce business Ola Dash.

According to various media reports, the company’s decision to shut down the two businesses has impacted 3,500 employees.

Meanwhile, amid the layoffs, the company said it is hiring thousands of engineers to scale its electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing in the coming days.

Ola’s ride-hailing segment saw a 57.8% drop to INR 884.3 Cr in its revenue in FY21. During the year, the ride-hailing business reported a loss of INR 328 Cr, while Ola’s cab-leasing vertical reported a loss of INR 653.5 Cr.

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