Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal Criticizes Google For Cutting Maps’ Fees

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently criticized Google for reducing the pricing of Google Maps for developers in India by 70% starting August 1.

Google announced a new country-specific pricing structure to facilitate location-based solutions. However, Aggarwal, promoting Ola Maps powered by his AI startup Krutrim, expressed his displeasure on X, calling it “too little too late” and promising significant updates on Ola Maps.

Notably, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal launched Krutrim’s AI chatbot in public beta earlier this year. In May, the AI startup introduced mapping and location-based services for developers via the Ola Maps API.

Aggarwal has emphasized Krutrim’s “India-first” cost structure as a key differentiator. Earlier this month, he announced that Ola Cabs had fully transitioned from Google Maps to its own Ola Maps.

Social media users were, however, not impressed with Mr. Aggarwal’s stance. Reacting to his post, one user commented, “You were using @googlemaps earlier. Now that you have your own OlaMaps, you started abusing @Google. This isn’t the right spirit or very professional.”