Ola appoints Nitin Gupta as CEO of Ola Money
ET Bureau|
Updated: Dec 08, 2017, 11.02 PM IST
By Shashwati Shankar
BENGALURU: Cab-hailing major Ola has roped in PayU India cofounder Nitin Gupta as CEO of Ola Money, as it looks to build a financial services business after raising more than $1 billion over past one year.
The company is looking to leverage the high frequency and data of the captive customer base, and could also be eyeing a payments bank licence for the business, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Ola Money was launched in November 2015 and allows users to make cashless payments for cab bookings besides several other brands including Lenskart, BookMyShow and Oyo Rooms.
Ola had hired Rushil Goel to head the payments business in 2015. Goel quit in the second half of 2016. In October 2017, in keeping with the changes in wallet limits prescribed under the new RBI guidelines on PPIs, the permissible balance for wallet users, including Ola Money, was reduced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000. In addition, the maximum amount that can be reloaded in the wallet cannot exceed Rs 1lakh in a financial year.
Ola did not respond to ET's emailed queries. "Gupta is possibly the most crucial recruitment that is being made this year," an employee told ET on condition of anonymity.
Ola is also working on integrating its app with public transportation services. Building a robust payments business under Gupta will help increase the use of Ola Money across services.
According to Jaspal Singh, partner at Valoriser Consultants, internationally it could be an emerging trend for cab-hailing applications to focus on creating end-to-end financial services.
"Even Grab Taxi is focusing on the financial space... Eventually, these cab-hailing applications will have to offer end-to-end financial services to reach the next level of growth. Customers could book a cab via Ola to reach a restaurant, then make payments there using Ola Money and return home again via an Ola cab. It is integral to make financial transactions easy for customers and drivers on the go," Singh told ET.
Ola had recently projected that it will become profitable during 2018-19. Ola closed a $1.1 billion round of financing in October, which has been in the works for a year, led by Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent. The round gave Ola a post money valuation of over $4 billion. Ola's massive fund-raising is expected to give it firepower to stay ahead of Uber in India. The company will also strongly focus on its electrical vehicles project, according to people familiar with developments in the company.
Gupta's appointment follows the resignation of Shalabh Seth, the CEO of Ola's cab leasing business.
BENGALURU: Cab-hailing major Ola has roped in PayU India cofounder Nitin Gupta as CEO of Ola Money, as it looks to build a financial services business after raising more than $1 billion over past one year.
The company is looking to leverage the high frequency and data of the captive customer base, and could also be eyeing a payments bank licence for the business, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Ola Money was launched in November 2015 and allows users to make cashless payments for cab bookings besides several other brands including Lenskart, BookMyShow and Oyo Rooms.
Ola had hired Rushil Goel to head the payments business in 2015. Goel quit in the second half of 2016. In October 2017, in keeping with the changes in wallet limits prescribed under the new RBI guidelines on PPIs, the permissible balance for wallet users, including Ola Money, was reduced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000. In addition, the maximum amount that can be reloaded in the wallet cannot exceed Rs 1lakh in a financial year.
Ola did not respond to ET's emailed queries. "Gupta is possibly the most crucial recruitment that is being made this year," an employee told ET on condition of anonymity.
Ola is also working on integrating its app with public transportation services. Building a robust payments business under Gupta will help increase the use of Ola Money across services.
According to Jaspal Singh, partner at Valoriser Consultants, internationally it could be an emerging trend for cab-hailing applications to focus on creating end-to-end financial services.
"Even Grab Taxi is focusing on the financial space... Eventually, these cab-hailing applications will have to offer end-to-end financial services to reach the next level of growth. Customers could book a cab via Ola to reach a restaurant, then make payments there using Ola Money and return home again via an Ola cab. It is integral to make financial transactions easy for customers and drivers on the go," Singh told ET.
Ola had recently projected that it will become profitable during 2018-19. Ola closed a $1.1 billion round of financing in October, which has been in the works for a year, led by Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent. The round gave Ola a post money valuation of over $4 billion. Ola's massive fund-raising is expected to give it firepower to stay ahead of Uber in India. The company will also strongly focus on its electrical vehicles project, according to people familiar with developments in the company.
Gupta's appointment follows the resignation of Shalabh Seth, the CEO of Ola's cab leasing business.
