Ola founder advocates for 70-hour workweek amid controversy
Ola founder goes Narayana Murthy way, advocates for 70-hour workweek
11 Jul 2024
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Cabs, Ola Electric, and AI unicorn Krutrim, has reiterated his support for a 70-hour workweek in an interview with ANI.
He stated that he works 20 hours a day, seven days a week.
Despite facing criticism online for his views on work-life balance, Aggarwal maintains his stance: "The younger generation today wants a little bit off - I don't agree with this work life balance concept," he said.
Aggarwal's controversial views spark outrage
Controversy
Aggarwal's views have sparked controversy beyond his work ethic.
In May 2024, he faced backlash for referring to the use of gender-neutral pronouns as a "Western illness" on LinkedIn and X.
Despite accusations of homophobia and transphobia, Aggarwal dismissed these claims, labeling pronouns as a "political philosophy" that does not translate to Indian culture.
His post was deleted by LinkedIn for violating community guidelines.
Ola shifts workload to Krutrim following LinkedIn controversy
Change
Following the deletion of his post by LinkedIn, Aggarwal moved Ola's entire workload to his own platform, Krutrim.
Launched in 2023, Krutrim and its sister organization Krutrim AI offer more than just cloud infrastructure; they are also developing a full AI computing stack and advanced silicon for data centers.
This move is seen as part of Aggarwal's broader strategy to distance Ola from Western tech companies.
Aggarwal expresses concern over 'techno colonialism'
Tech dependence
Aggarwal has voiced concerns about India's reliance on Western tech giants, referring to it as "techno colonialism."
He pointed out that while India generates 20% of the world's digital data, only one-tenth of it is stored in the country.
The rest, he claimed, is exported into two global data centers, largely owned by Big Tech.
This concern further underscores his efforts to distance Ola from Western tech companies.
Ola drops Google Maps for in-house solution
Shift
In a recent announcement, Aggarwal revealed that Ola is dropping Google Maps in favor of an open-source solution available on Krutrim Cloud.
This move comes after the company's exit from Azure last month.
"After Azure exit last month, we've now fully exited Google Maps. We used to spend ₹100 crore [about $12 million] a year but we've made that 0 this month by moving completely to our in-house Ola maps!" Aggarwal announced last Friday.