Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal says staff are 'working more than 70 hours' to fulfil festive demand

Ola Electric founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had earlier agreed with Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's views that youngsters in India need to work 70 hours a week to increase the country's overall productivity.

The festive season has raked in a lot of orders for Ola Electric, founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said, with a 30 percent growth in sales. To meet the surge in orders, employees are now working more than 70 hours a week to  meet the demand.

"Very strong start to the festive season by the Ola Electric team! Our sales grew almost 30 percent in October over September! The Futurefactory is running at full speed and everyone working more than 70 hours to fulfill all the demand! 2023 is set to be a defining year for EVs in India," Aggarwal shared on X.

Very strong start to the festive season by the @OlaElectric team! Our sales grew almost 30% Oct over Sep! The Futurefactory is running at full speed and everyone working more than 70 hours to fulfil all the demand! 2023 is set to be a defining year for EVs in India.

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 31, 2023

Futurefactory is the company's manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu which, as per the company, is the world’s largest and “most advanced" two-wheeler factory. Bhavish Aggarwal, however, did not specify if the workers were being compensated for working overtime.

This comes days after the Ola Electric CEO entered the 70-hour work week debate ignited by Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. Taking to X, Aggarwal wrote that he "totally" agreed with Murthy's views.

"It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in one generation what other countries have built over many generations!" he added.

Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations! https://t.co/KsXQbjAhSM — Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 26, 2023

Aggarwal's comments faced a backlash from several X users.

"This kind of sugarcane-squeezing behaviour of startups to extract their employees is just abusive and toxic," wrote one while another commented, "Double the pay, and expect the output. There's no output without input."

Read more: Sudha Murty says husband Narayana Murthy 'has worked 80 to 90 hours a week'