Krutrim, the artificial intelligence arm of Ola, is undergoing a wave of high-profile exits even as it accelerates its efforts in AI model development, semiconductor design, and cloud infrastructure.
The company, which recently launched its AI agent platform Kruti and is testing its advanced Bodhi chips, is navigating a delicate balance between organizational stability and technological ambition.
Krutrim Leadership Departures and Layoffs
In the past few months, Krutrim has seen the departure of several senior executives, including John Williamson (Senior Director), Dinesh Mittal (Engineering Head), and Sharath Adavanne (Director of Applied AI).
These exits follow a broader trend—over 20 leadership-level departures have been reported in the past year.
Additionally, the company recently laid off more than a dozen linguist team members across multiple languages.
A company insider clarified that these employees were hired for a specific project that has now concluded.
However, the churn has raised concerns about project continuity and the company’s workplace culture.
Workforce Size and Role of Linguistics Team
Despite the layoffs, Krutrim maintains a linguistics team of nearly 600 employees, responsible for AI model evaluation, linguistic data curation, and prompt engineering.
These roles are critical to the company’s efforts to build India-centric AI models that understand and respond to diverse linguistic contexts.
Product Roadmap: From Krutrim 3 to Bodhi Chips
Krutrim is currently working on Krutrim Model 3, a multibillion-parameter large language model (LLM), which is expected to offer broader use cases than its predecessor, Krutrim 2 (12 billion parameters).
The company is also developing Bodhi 1 and Bodhi 2, its proprietary AI semiconductor chips, which are now in the testing phase.
Talks are underway with global manufacturing partners to scale production.
In parallel, Krutrim is expanding its data center infrastructure to support these models and chips, aligning with its vision to build a full-stack AI ecosystem for India.
New Launches and Strategic Partnerships
Last week, Krutrim launched Kruti, a consumer-facing AI agent platform capable of booking cabs, delivering food, and paying bills—currently within the Ola ecosystem.
Krutrim is also exploring integrations in healthcare and shopping to expand its platform’s capabilities.
It is in talks with ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) to include services like metro ticketing and mobile recharges.
Culture Concerns and Public Scrutiny
Krutrim has not been immune to controversy.
The company faced backlash following the alleged suicide of an employee. In its aftermath, claims of a toxic work culture surfaced in public discourse.
Krutrim has not commented directly on the incident.
However, it has reiterated that workforce churn aligns with industry norms and that its business roadmap remains on track.
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