Ola hires Pranav Tiwari, Sanjay Kharb to lead Engineering departments

Transportation app Ola said on Monday, it has roped in two new executives, Pranav Tiwari and Sanjay Kharb, to strengthen its core technology leadership.

Tiwari, former CTO of Cellworks, has joined Ola as Vice President of Engineering and will work towards optimising growth and profitability by bringing in necessary efficiencies in the supply chain function, Ola said in a statement.

An ex-Googler, he has over 35 patents in his name. Under him, the team will focus on building solutions that effectively optimise use of vehicles on the platform, reduce deviations in routes and improve customer-driver matching.

Kharb, who was earlier VP Production Engineering at InMobi, has joined as Vice President of Engineering Infrastructure and will strengthen efficiencies in Ola's technology infrastructure including site operation-ability, compliance and data systems, the statement said.

His mandate would be to ensure seamless working of critical technology exchanges that back Ola's platform.

"Ola has consistently invested in technology, consolidating supply chain and building a robust technological backbone by bringing on-board world class talent," Ola CTO and co-founder Ankit Bhati said.

Both Pranav and Sanjay's roles are critical and essential to steer Ola to its next phase of growth, he added.

Ola has been witnessing a slew of changes in its executive team. Last week, its CFO Rajiv Bansal and Chief Marketing Officer Raghuvesh Sarup put in their papers.

Besides, Ola roped in Badri Raghavan as its chief data scientist apart from naming former PepsiCo executive, Vishal Kaul as COO and elevating Pranay Jivrajka as Founding Partner (from COO).