Pranay Jivrajka quits as Ola pushes into an EV future

Pranay Jivrajka, founding partner of ride hailing platform Ola and CEO of Ola Foods, has stepped down from the company.  

Jivarika’s departure comes at a time when Ola is moving aggressively into the electric vehicles (EV) market through Ola Electric.  

“We thank Pranay for his many contributions through the years and wish him the very best for his future endeavours," a company statement said on Jivrajka’s departure.   

The development was first reported by The Economic Times. 

Considered to be the third most important person in Ola after founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Jivrajka was chief operating officer until 2016, after which he was designated a founding partner and put in charge of the food delivery business Foodpanda, which Ola acquired in 2017.    Foodpanda under Jivrajka pivoted to the dark kitchen model and rebranded as Ola Foods. During this time, Jivrajka steered Ola Foods into six new metro cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. Ola Foods shortly opened a store front in Bengaluru.  

Gourav Porwal, a recently appointed executive who has risen up ranks in recent years, has reportedly taken up Jivrajka’s role in the interim.  

Porwal was a few years senior to founder Aggarwal at IIT Bombay and had previously started and run a dialysis service company Sparsh Nephrocare. Porwal joined Ola in 2019 as head of operations of Ola Fleets and had since manned key roles in the company. Porwal is now the COO of global mobility with interim charges of Ola Foods and Ola Fleets.