Remember when DOGE leader Elon Musk caused a ruckus and was met with resistance from Republicans for insisting on U.S. federal workers submitting weekly reports on their accomplishments or else being fired?
Now, there's an Indian equivalent to that—without the threat of firing! Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, has launched a new program called 'Kya Chal Raha Hai?' which asks employees to send him weekly reports on their work.
According to a report by CNBC, Ola workers recently received an in-house email that made this reporting system compulsory. The title of this program is 'Kya Chal Raha Hai?' which is a Hindi expression that means 'What's going on?' Workers are now required to create a brief email detailing three to five major tasks they have accomplished in a week.
The initial batch of reports was to be in by the end of the day after the email was deployed, while subsequent reports have to be submitted every Sunday. All the employees need to forward their reports to Aggarwal and also to their respective direct managers.
In a letter to his employees, Aggarwal wrote: "We're introducing 'Kya Chal Raha Hai?'—a simple way for you to give your weekly updates directly to me and your managers. From today, send a brief update to your manager and [email protected] (the email will be live within an hour) with 3-5 bullet points on what you worked on last week. Keep it simple and brief. Use the subject line: 'Weekly updates.' The cut-off time for submission is by the end of the day. Going forward, reports need to be submitted before Sunday midnight. This is for everyone—no exceptions (sic)," CNBC quoted Aggarwal as saying.
At the same time, Ola Electric Mobility Ltd is said to be laying off more than 1,000 employees, both full-time and contract, as it tries to stem financial losses, Bloomberg reported. Units that are said to be affected include charging infrastructure, procurement, customer relations, and fulfillment.
After the news of layoffs, Ola Electric's share fell 5.36% on Monday, hitting a new 52-week low of ₹53.71 per share on the BSE—66% below its post-listing high of ₹157.53 per share.
A similar mandate from Elon Musk last month had caused tremendous pushback in the U.S. federal workforce. The CEO of Tesla had instructed government workers to report their progress or be treated as resigned.
"According to President Donald Trump's directives, all federal workers will shortly be receiving an email asking for a recap of what they've accomplished over the last week," Musk wrote on X. "Not responding will be considered resignation," he wrote.
The move prompted vigorous backlash, with the resignation of civil servants, suits, and concerted resistance in informal group chats using apps such as Signal and Instagram, The New York Times reports. Kash Patel, a one-time Trump administration official, went so far as to tell staffers to ignore Musk's order, while the United States Department of Justice delivered an order to countermand it.
Aggarwal's 'Kya Chal Raha Hai?' campaign soon became a subject of social media ridicule, with people laughing at its imitation of Musk's infamous methods.
"They've been copying since their first product," said one X user. Another commented, "Not surprising—people like Bhavish have made their careers by copying trends from the West instead of innovating."
A different user chimed in with criticism of broader industry patterns, stating, "The lack of originality and constant imitation is embarrassing. It’s a defining trait of Indian society—I’ve noticed it for decades."
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