Co-founder and CEO of cab aggregator Ola Bhavish Aggarwal has admitted that there is definitely a war between the company and Uber, calling it a corporate war.
According to a report in The Hindu, Aggarwal said, “With all due respect I am not saying its war type situation but this is corporate war and the competition between us and Uber is very intense.…the analogy that I give India is that this is like Vietnam war. We are the local guerrillas. We have the Americans carpet bombing us,”
References were made to the World War-II as well by Aggarwal speaking of what happened between Didi Chuxing and Uber in China. “But our industry is very very competitive and what happened in China between Uber and Didi was like World War 2…there were two people with lot of ammunition against each other and in the end one company won…in China there are only these large internet giants and the newer companies like Didi can stand on their shoulders...And the foreign competitor is actually at a disadvantage...India is not like that.”
The company is on a very clear path to profitability, Aggarwal says. Speaking at a Tie even in Delhi on Friday, he said that the company will go to every nook and corner of the country and find opportunities in niche areas. And having significantly improved its bottom-line over the last one year, Aggarwal says Ola should turn profitable in two years.
Aggarwal also said that there is ‘capital dumping’ taking place in India with companies like Uber pumping in millions of dollars into every geography it enters. According to a report in The Economic Times, Ola CEO said that it is up to the government to decide if any action needs to be taken to counter capital dumping.
“As an entrepreneur, I’m focused on my business. I am sure the relevant fovernment agencies will have a look at it and decide. As far as Ola is concerned, we are focused and determined to build a business that can sustain and be impactful,” said Aggarwal.
He also spoke about trends that are emerging in the mobility industry. He pointed our four large trends – Ride sharing, electric vehicles, driverless cars and connected mobility.
In fact, reports suggest that Ola is looking at soon having a fleet of electric vehicles. According to a report by ET, Ola is in talks with Hyderabad-based Gayam Motor Works for its fleet of electric vehicles.