Youngest Indian EntrepreneursIn the evolving journey of India’s tech revolution, Bhavish, the co-founder of Ola cabs has played a pivotal role. From revolutionizing mobility in India to being likened to Elon Musk for his intensity and futuristic vision, he has become an aspiring entrepreneur for the youth.
Also he is a man who envisions a future where India is not dependent on Western AI companies.
Early Life of Bhavish Aggarwal
Bhavish Agarwal was born on 28 August, 1985 in Ludhiana, Punjab and from a young age he was known for his keen intellect and curiosity.
After completion of his school, he gained admission into the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, which is one of the most prestigious institutes in India. After successfully graduating in 2008, with a BTech degree in Computer Science and Engineering, he joined Microsoft Research India, where he worked for two years.
During this time, Bhavish published three research papers and filed two patents. However destiny had different plans.
The Birth Of Ola Cabs
The idea of Ola was struck on Bhavish’s head after a personal experience with an unreliable taxi service for a short trip from Bengaluru to Bandipur. He saw a clear gap in India’s transportation services and started to envision a more reliable and scalable transport service that could address the problems of urban towns in India.
In 2011, Bhavish Agarwal co-founded Ola cabs with his IITian friend Ankit Bhati.
Started as a cab rental service, the Ola cabs evolved into India’s largest mobility platform. Firstly, the company ran only in Mumbai but soon expanded to other tier 2 and metro cities.
Besides merely allowing users to book cabs via its app, Ola also offered various options like Ola mini, Ola share, Ola prime.
Soon, Ola expanded its offerings by including bike taxis, auto rickshaws and electric vehicles.
The Rise
In a highly competitive market dominated by uber and other regional players, Ola’s ability to adapt and cater to the needs of diverse Indian customers helped Ola rise quickly and climb to the top.
Expansion
Widened to Australia, the UK and New Zealand,
Ola success wasn’t just limited to ride-hailing only. The company began launching new verticals and acquiring other businesses such as:
TaxiForSure (a Bangalore based startup) was acquired by Ola for 200 million to strengthen its market.
Ola Money
A digital wallet that allowed seamless in-app payments (similar to phonepe and paytm). Ola Play, an entertainment system in cab, which provided personalized content to users.
Each of these moves taken by Bhavish, shows his strategy of not just staying ahead of competition but also creating an ecosystem around transportation and mobility.
Read Also: Youngest Indian Entrepreneurs
The Unique Philosophy
Emphasis on ‘Technonationalism’ is one of the most defining aspects of Bhavish Agarwal’s leadership. He believes India should be an active creator and exporter of technology and not a passive consumer.
He mentioned that it’s high time to build our own digital backbone and India’s data shouldn’t be processed and monetized overseas.
And this philosophy underpins many of Bhavish’s ventures such as Ola Maps (as an alternative to Google Map), Ola Financial (to reduce dependency of Indian users on international payment gateways), and Krutrim ( to replace reliance on AI services from the US and China).
His commitment to build a self-reliant tech ecosystem can be seen in his strategic alignment with national initiatives like ONDC, UPI and Make in India.
Challenges
Although Bhavish Aggarwal has achieved a lot, but every journey is no short of challenges. However, Bhavish has tackled criticism directly reinforcing that if you think this is too intense, maybe this isn’t the right place for you. We’re building for India’s future, setbacks are part of the innovation journey.
Bhavish was optimistic towards long-term growth, especially as Ola electric scales and Krutim (valued over 1 billion within three months of launch) expanded into consumer and enterprise solutions.
His Legacy
From experiencing a bad cab ride to the boardrooms of a billion dollar company, Bhavish Agarwal’s journey is a symbol of resilience, vision, purpose driven innovation. He is not only a founder but a nation-builder in this growing digital age.
By inventing Ola, Bhavish Agarwal has changed how India travels. He also championed clean energy with Ola electrics. Bhavish future plan mentions that he aims to redefine how India interacts with AI with the help of Krutrim, an AI startup focused on developing LLMs ( Large Language Models), Ai chips, cloud infrastructure and voice assistants that can easily understand Indian language and cultural contexts.
