Former electric two-wheeler leader Ola Electric Mobility witnessed not just market share loss last year but a churn in manpower too, as attrition jumped to a staggering 54% during the year. The company’s attrition rate during FY24 was 44%.
The company lost nearly a fifth of its total permanent workforce, shrinking to 3,231 in FY25 from 4,011 seen by the end of FY24, according to its latest annual report. This includes the fall in headcount of employees engaged in technology and research and development (R&D). From 907 engineers in FY24, Ola’s product and technology development team dwindled to 763 employees, marking a fall of 16% in FY25.
Mass Exodus: The Staggering Rise in Attrition
Ola’s R&D team is engaged in advancing research across vehicle engineering, battery systems, embedded software and electronics and other domains. The company clarified that, compared to its peers, it has a higher attrition rate because of the churn at the front end, given that it directly operates stores, unlike the traditional dealership model followed by legacy brands. The overall automotive industry attrition during FY24, as per Deloitte, stood at 10.4%. For key talent, constituting top performers, top potential employees and employees in critical roles, the attrition rate during FY24 was 16.1%.
Competitive Pressure and Sinking Market Share
Ola also made abrupt changes to its product plans of the future, which may have caused the changes to its employee count. After having shelved the electric car project in FY25, the company has recognised an impairment loss of ₨ 20 crores on it.
The balance development expenditure of Rs 123 crore, which is classified under intangible asset under development, is now being used in the development of its three-wheeler project.
The drop in the number of employees on its rolls coincides with the pressure on retail sales that Ola has been witnessing due to heightened competition from traditional brands like TVS Motor Company and Bajaj Auto. Ola’s market share declined to around 19% in June 2025 from around 46% in June 2024, driven by negative brand equity due to servicing-related issues and heightened competitive intensity across distribution, product and pricing.
TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto have usurped the top spot from Ola Electric in terms of the market share, powered by the iQube and the Chetak range, which now control 46% of the domestic EV two-wheeler market. Despite introducing models that were priced much lower than peers (such as Ola S1 Z at Rs 60,000), Ola has failed to draw crowds.
Ola has given sombre guidance for volume growth for FY26 ranging between a decrease of 10% to an increase of 4% compared to FY25. It is targeting 325,000-375,000 vehicle sales in FY26 (including a 15-20% share of motorcycles) after ending FY25 at nearly 360,000. This will be the slowest growth for the company since its debut in 2021.