(Saturday Deep Dive) - The Curious Case of Bhavish Aggarwal

India’s startup landscape is marked by innovation, ambition, and occasional contradictions. While names like Ola and its co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal are celebrated for disrupting the mobility space, there’s an emerging irony that shadows this success. As nationalistic fervor becomes more ingrained in the Indian tech scene, founders like Aggarwal push for policies that prioritize local products. However, the question arises: are these innovations truly original, or are they mere replications of Western developments?

This week, we dive deep into Bhavish Aggarwal’s story, examining how his ventures have shaped—and been shaped by—this delicate balance between nationalism and genuine innovation. Buckle up for an insightful journey through the rise of Ola and the controversies surrounding Aggarwal’s latest endeavors.

Enjoy!

A surreal sense of nationalism is creeping into the Indian startup scenario, where founders like Bhavish Aggarwal push for strong ethno-nationalist policies. Ironically, their innovations often fall short, being second-rate copies of Western developments with minimal genuine contributions of their own.

Born on August 28, 1985, in Ludhiana, Punjab, Bhavish Aggarwal's early life was just like any other bright Indian kid - a complete focus on academic excellence. His parents were both doctors so he had a comfortable though not lavish childhood.

After completing his initial schooling in Ludhiana, he moved to Kota, Rajasthan. For readers that don’t know, Kota is known for its rigorous coaching institutes, to prepare for the highly competitive Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) entrance examination. These institutes have been criticized, and they didn’t work for Aggarwal; he didn’t make it in the first try.

Aggarwal moved back to Ludhiana and studied hard, securing an impressive 23rd rank nationwide, earning him a place at IIT Bombay. There, he pursued a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering, graduating in 2008.

Following his graduation from IIT Bombay, Aggarwal's career began in a conventional yet prestigious role at Microsoft Research India in July 2008. As an Assistant Researcher, he spent over two years immersed in the technical and academic aspects of the tech industry, contributing to two patents and authoring three papers in international journals.

Despite the stability and recognition that came with his position, Aggarwal's interests extended beyond the confines of corporate research. His blog, DesiTech.in, where he discussed startups and technological developments in India, hinted at a growing inclination towards entrepreneurship.

This is where Aggarwal’s career begins to diverge from the tried and true bright Indian kid career.

The idea for Ola did not emerge from a carefully crafted business plan but from a frustrating personal experience. During a trip from Bengaluru to Bandipur, Aggarwal found himself stranded midway when the car he had rented came with unexpected demands for more money. This incident underscored the unreliability plaguing the car rental industry, planting the seeds for what would later become Ola.

In December 2010, Aggarwal, alongside his IIT Bombay batchmate Ankit Bhati, launched Olatrips.com, initially intended as a trip planning portal. However, recognizing the glaring demand for reliable transportation services, they quickly pivoted to a cab aggregation model, rebranding the venture as Olacabs in 2011. What began as a response to a personal inconvenience soon evolved into a platform connecting drivers and passengers, marking the nascent stages of a company that would transform urban mobility in India.

The meteoric rise of Olacabs, driven by Bhavish Aggarwal’s foresight and adaptability, positioned him as a visionary in the Indian startup ecosystem. However, as the company expanded and diversified, Aggarwal's later ventures, such as the Krutrim AI chatbot, have been mired in controversy and criticism. While Olacabs revolutionized urban mobility, Aggarwal's more recent efforts have drawn scrutiny, both for their technological shortcomings and for his public statements, revealing a complex figure whose influence extends beyond business into the contentious arenas of technology and social discourse.

Bhavish Aggarwal’s Krutrim AI chatbot, for instance, has been met with unfavorable reviews from users. Many have noted that it is limited to the knowledge cut-off of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5 model. People have pointed out that more likely than not, Krutrim AI is just making calls to other providers’ models at the backend. Though there is no way to confirm this, and it is likely that Krutrim may have started out using other models before developing their own, this left a bad taste in people’s mouth.

The controversies have kept on piling up. In an interview, Aggarwal claimed to work “20 hours a day, 7 days a week”, leaving many bemused. He also had a public meltdown recently after LinkedIn removed his post that referred to gender-neutral pronouns like ‘they/them’ as an “illness.” He dramatically claimed that the LinkedIn chatbot, powered by artificial intelligence, was “imposing a political ideology” on Indian users that he deemed “unsafe and sinister.”

In another move, Ola Cabs, the ride-hailing giant founded by Bhavish, has shifted from using Google Maps to its own in-house Ola Maps, reportedly achieving cost savings of approximately Rs 100 crore annually.

Aggarwal proudly announced this transition, emphasizing the financial benefits. This change came after Ola Group completed transferring its entire workload to its in-house data centers, run by Krutrim, following the end of its partnership with Microsoft Azure.

Bhavish coined the term 'techno-colonialism' to describe how global tech giants exploit India's data, drawing parallels with the British East India Company.

The launch of Ola Maps has also sparked controversy, as CE Info Systems, the parent company of MapMyIndia, has accused Ola of copying their proprietary data to build the platform. According to CE Info Systems, Ola has allegedly violated the terms of a 2021 agreement by caching, saving, and reverse engineering MapMyIndia’s data, which they claim was explicitly prohibited.

The legal notice issued by CE Info Systems asserts that Ola misused confidential information and trade secrets, resulting in a breach of intellectual property rights and unfair trade practices aimed at unjust commercial gain. Bhavish Aggarwal dismissed the issue when questioned during an IPO press conference, emphasizing that it was not relevant to the ongoing discussions.

So this has left Aggarwal in an interesting place in the public arena. He has built companies that have moved India forward such as Ola Cabs and Ola Electric. He has launched other things that are less successful. He has also courted controversies. It is easy to find comparisons on the internet of Aggarwal and Elon Musk.

A touch of genius comes with a side of eccentricity, is something that is commonly heard. There are plenty of supporters and detractors of Aggarwal and Musk. They both arouse strong feelings. However, let us not focus on the individual personalities but on the underlying issue.

A lot of Aggarwal’s moves are marketed as steps towards self-reliance and anti-colonialism, they reveal an underlying contradiction. When individuals promote second-rate products under the guise of nationalism, it raises questions. Are consumers expected to blindly support these mediocre products simply because they are made locally? This contradiction is evident in the skepticism and criticism seen on social media.

Bhavish Aggarwal and his peers seem to be building products with a capitalistic mindset while expecting consumers to adopt a pseudo-nationalistic approach. Even if well intentioned, and we have no reason to believe that it is not, this disparity between rhetoric and actions is becoming increasingly apparent. The irony is that while they decry 'techno-colonialism,' they simultaneously fail to produce genuinely groundbreaking innovations.

In the end, the curious case of Bhavish Aggarwals highlights a broader issue within the Indian startup ecosystem. The push for nationalism, when not backed by substantial and original contributions, only serves to expose the hollowness of such claims. It is crucial for the Indian startup scene to focus on genuine innovation and quality rather than relying on nationalism as a crutch to promote subpar products. Only then can India truly establish itself as a global leader in technology and innovation.

What will happen with Bhavish Aggarwal and his companies? Will his public persona hurt or help his companies? Can he focus on multiple companies at once? Can he keep working ‘20 hours a day’? What is the truth and what is ‘drama’? We look forward to finding out eventually.