‘Elon Musk should try something new’: Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal takes a dig at the tech billionaire

Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola, Founder and CEO, said the tech billionaire Elon Musk should stop doing businesses that he is doing. At BT India@100 Conclave in New Delhi, Aggarwal spoke to Sourav Majumdar, Editor at Business Today and Business Today’s Technology Editor Aayush Ailawadi. When asked that people do draw comparisons between him and tech billionaire, Elon Musk, he said, “You know, I’m just being myself. I’m much younger than him, and he’s someone we all look up to. But honestly, I’m not sure why he’s venturing into the same businesses I’m in. Maybe he should try something new for a change.” He added, “I started Krutrim before he launched his AI venture.”

Furthermore, drawing comparisons with other billionaires at the helm of big tech giants, Aggarwal stated, “we prefer the kurta-pyjama over a leather jacket any day. If people in Silicon Valley can wear leather jackets and black polo t-shirts, why can’t we wear a kurta and have long hair?”

Aggarwal also stated, “Tesla is for the West, Ola is for the rest.” He explained that with Ola Cabs, Ola Krutrim and Ola Electric, he aims to change the digital ecosystem in India by making it more India focused. He said, “The products that companies like Tesla, etc, will build are for the 1 billion rich people. The larger opportunity is to build for the global south, build for India, and then expand to the global south. That's what Ola Electric is doing with our products. We're the first to have a Gigafactory in India. Now with Krutrim, which is our most recent company, just eight months old, the opportunity and ambition is to build India's AI text tech. And for too long in India, we have used global technologies without realising the implication of it.”

He also talked about the struggles that he had to face while building Ola in India when people told him that India doesn’t have any EV market and told him that he couldn’t get into manufacturing market as well. He said, “In a way, if the founding principles of a business are solid and your intentions are genuine, you'll find your path. For me and Ola, our focus has always been on seizing this pivotal moment for India. We’re living in the most exciting time of our lives, where India is on the rise, and the future will be shaped by Indians. With 20 per cent of the world’s growth happening here and a significant portion of the global youth in India, our country is poised to increasingly set the global agenda.”