Ola operations chief Vishal Kaul resigns, Pallav Singh takes interim charge

Ola's operations chief Vishal Kaul has resigned after a stint of one year and four months, in the latest senior-level change at the ride-hailing firm.

Ola said in a statement on Friday senior vice-president Pallav Singh will take over Kaul’s responsibilities until a new operations chief is appointed. 

Kaul said in the statement he is "moving on to another exciting career opportunity”. He didn't elaborate.

Kaul, an 18-year PepsiCo veteran, joined Ola as operations chief in February 2017 after founding team member Pranay Jivrajka stepped down from the post. During his stint with beverages giant PepsiCo, Kaul had risen to the post of country head for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Ola has lost and hired several senior executives over the past year. In April, it recruited former Procter & Gamble executive Susheel Balakrishnan as its chief people officer in place of former human resources head Yugantar Saikia.

In March, Ola recruited former BMW executive Anand Shah to head its electric vehicle initiative. In August last year, the company had appointed former eKart executive Harish Abhichandani as its chief financial officer.

The executives who quit the company over the past year include Shalabh Seth, chief executive of Ola Fleet Technologies, the cab leasing arm of Ola. Last year, Ola had lost top-level executives including chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal and marketing chief Raghuvesh Sarup.

The changes come at a time when Ola is locked in a fierce battle with foreign rival Uber Technologies Inc. and finds itself amid a whirlwind of acquisitions, unit shutdown, fundraising and global expansion. In April, for instance, it acquired Ridlr, a public-transport ticketing app.

Ola raised more than $1 billion in October 2017, acquired food delivery platform Foodpanda in December, launched its services abroad in January, and decided to shut its bus unit Ola Shuttle in February.