Taxi aggregator Ola today said it has appointed former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal to head finance operations as part of its expansion drive in the country. Bansal, who announced his resignation from the country’s second largest software services firm in October this year, will join the Softbank-backed Ola in January 2016.
“Rajiv brings close to 21 years of experience in finance with over 16 years at Infosys, where he was the CFO and recently transitioned to being an advisor to the CEO. Rajiv will be part of Ola’s core leadership team,” Ola said in a statement.
Mitesh Shah, who is currently the CFO, will lead strategic finance initiatives as part of Bansal’s team, it added. “We are thrilled to welcome Rajiv on board. He brings with him a wealth of experience from his long tenure at Infosys. Rajiv’s understanding and expertise in the finance domain is extremely valuable for us at this juncture of growth,” Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said.
His experience of being at the helm of finance for one of India’s most respected companies will help Ola in adopting best practices, he added. “Ola has been growing at an extraordinary pace and has created tremendous value in the process, to customers, partners and other stakeholders under Bhavish’s leadership.
As one of India’s most valuable startups, it carries with it a mighty responsibility of setting an example on corporate governance and best practices in finance,” Bansal said. He further said: “I am thoroughly excited about coming on board with this amazing team to co-create yet another globally admired company out of India.”
Before joining Infosys, Bansal has worked in different capacities at Tata Technologies, Cable & Wireless, and ABB. One of the highest paid executives in Infosys, Bansal took home a package of USD 770,858 for the year ended March 2015. Ola, which has recently raised its series F funding of USD 500 million, is one of the most valued startups in the country. The company, which competes with US-based Uber and homegrown taxi companies like Meru, has been valuated at about USD 5 billion in the latest round of funding. Ola’s investors include SoftBank Group, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Accel Partners US and Falcon Edge, among others. It has also been hiring talent from across industries to strengthen its operations. Earlier in the year, it has roped in Sunit Singh as Vice President of Design and Yugantar Saikia as VP Human Resources as well as former Flipkart executive Joy Bandekar in the corporate affairs role.