Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has made a bold move by announcing the shift of the company’s cloud services from Microsoft’s Azure to Ola’s Krutrim platform. This decision comes in the wake of a controversy surrounding the use of woke pronouns on social media.
Aggarwal took to X to express his concerns about the deletion of his post, which mentioned the use of they and them pronouns, by LinkedIn on two occasions. He criticized the platform for censoring his content and emphasized the need to develop indigenous technology solutions in India.
The CEO highlighted the importance of upholding Indian laws and avoiding foreign influence in corporate decisions. He stated that Ola will be moving its workload from Azure to Krutrim within the next week and extended an offer to other developers to join them in transitioning away from Azure.
Krutrim Si Designs, Ola’s AI venture, was launched earlier this year in Bengaluru, with a focus on developing India’s own AI model. The move to shift cloud services away from Microsoft’s Azure is seen as a strategic decision to promote indigenous technology solutions.
While Aggarwal’s decision has garnered support from some users who view it as a stand against foreign interference, others argue that respecting gender identity and pronouns is a matter of basic human decency. The debate surrounding the use of pronouns reflects larger issues of cultural influence and corporate responsibility.
As Ola prepares to make the transition to Krutrim, the decision underscores the growing importance of data ownership and technological sovereignty. It also raises questions about the role of foreign tech giants in shaping digital discourse and community guidelines in diverse global markets.
