Ola, Rapido, Namma Yatri: Local flavour to global fervour
Through the stories of Ola, Namma Yatri and Rapido, the thing that shines through is someone's desire to solve a problem, and they also demonstrate that every innovation must come with a local flavour
When Bhavish Aggarwal said he wanted to set up his own company to organise weekend getaways and short-duration holidays for the residents of Delhi NCR, his father was aghast. “Tu travel agent banna chahta hai! (You want to be a travel agent!),” the father retorted.
Bhavish had graduated from IIT-Bombay and joined Microsoft in 2008. He was in research and liked it. But two years of Microsoft and he could no longer contain his thirst for adventure. He wanted to set up his own company.
His father was fine with the idea but, like most fathers, also apprehensive. Aggarwal managed to convince him that Olatrip.com would be much more than a travel agency and set it up in 2010.
The timing seemed to be perfect. Hordes of people were descending on Delhi-NCR for the Commonwealth Games and, Aggarwal thought, they would naturally want to make a quick trip either to the hills on one side or the desert on the other. So, he would stand outside the Games venues with pamphlets advertising his company’s offerings.
He did not sell a single trip and shut down Olatrip in four months. But not without a life-changing learning. People did indeed want to make those trips Olatrip was offering, but they were keen on someone organising a part of it for them, not necessarily the whole tour. He would get a lot of requests for a vehicle. “Nainital jana hai yaar, gaadi dila de (we are going to Nainital, buddy, can you get us a car?).”
(This story appears in the 25 July, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
