Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal pens a heartfelt note to Ratan Tata: ‘.. he ignited the passion for EVs and cars in me..’

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently penned a heartfelt note to legendary industrialist Ratan Tata who passed away on October 9, 2024. Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter), Aggarwal shared a post where he said that Tata “was my hero growing up, like for so many others. I consider myself blessed to have gotten the opportunity to know my personal hero deeply over the last decade.” In his note, Aggarwal expressed respect for Tata’s unwavering commitment to ethics, philanthropy, and nation-building. He also talked about how Tata ignited the passion for EVs and cars in him and his key role in the founding of Ola Electric.
Ratan Tata, my personal hero
I’m at a loss with Ratan Tata Sir’s passing. His loss feels so personal because it is for me. He was my hero growing up, like for so many others. I consider myself blessed to have gotten the opportunity to know my personal hero deeply over the last decade. Meeting and interacting with him many times and each time, learning lessons for life.
My relationship with Mr. Tata started in 2008. I was graduating from IIT Bombay and he was the guest speaker at our convocation. I was a young kid but his words that day stayed with me - to serve one’s country.
In 2015, I got the chance to meet Mr Tata and he decided to invest in Ola. But my interactions with him didn’t end there. They had just begun! Mr Tata was like no other business leader I have ever met. He took personal interest in my journey. And in every interaction there was grace, humility, curiosity and a world of learning for me. In 2016, I invited him to come to Bengaluru and address my whole company. I thought a person of his stature would politely decline but he actually took a full day out, flew to Bengaluru and spent the entire day with my team and company!
The one story I’d like to share today is his key role in the founding of my second company Ola Electric. One day in 2017 I got a call from him asking me to come to Mumbai. He just said - “Bhavish I want to take you somewhere and show you something exciting”. We flew in his plane to Coimbatore to see his personal project making electric vehicles out of the Tata Nano! He was so passionate and excited about electric vehicles. He even drove me in one on a test track and then pointed out such detailed improvements to the engineers. That was the day Ola electric really got started - as he ignited the passion for EVs and cars in me! After that, almost every product that we conceptualised and designed (some of which are not yet released) I would go and show him the concepts and he would patiently sit with me and ideate and give feedback.
His love for animals and dogs also grew on me. In fact, such was his love for dogs that many times when I went to his office, I would notice street dogs proudly sitting right there next to him inside his office! With this inspiration, we decided to open Ola offices and factories to stray dogs and today we have almost 30 of them living in our facilities.
The last time I met him was a year ago to share the news of Ola Electric’s IPO and he as usual was gracious and curious. He was frail but his enthusiasm for cars was as high as ever, and his encouragement for me was as strong as ever.
As I reflect on his legacy today, he has set a bar so high for all of us. And as I walk on my journey, make mistakes and learn from them, I feel so incredibly blessed to have seen such an amazing man from up close, and gotten a chance to see the ideal to strive for.
I will deeply miss him. India will deeply miss him. And there will be no one like him again.
Om Shanti🙏🏼