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Ola vs Google: Bhavish Aggarwal announces 2 years of free access to Ola Maps

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Bhavish Aggarwal and Sundar Pichai

Bhavish Aggarwal and Sundar Pichai

India-born Sundar Pichai-led Google recently announced a reduction in pricing for its Maps platform for developers in India, effective August 1, 2024. 

The tech giant said it will cut the costs of its core services by up to 70% and will start accepting payments in Indian Rupees (INR). 

However, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal was quick to respond to Google's new pricing strategy.

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"For years, global big tech giants have viewed India primarily as a market to tap. They've imposed high costs on our developers, collected our data, and often overlooked our digital sovereignty. But times are changing. India is now ready to take its place as a leader on the global tech stage," Aggarwal wrote in a blog post. 

On July 18, Krutrim, India's first AI unicorn founded by Aggarwal, unveiled a competitive pricing structure for Ola Maps to promote the #ExitGoogleMaps trend and encourage Indian developers to adopt its mapping and location-based services.

Ola Maps introduced a free tier for all its mapping and location-based APIs, allowing developers up to 5 million API calls per month at no cost, which it claims would cover 90% of Indian startups and developers. This includes APIs such as autocomplete, reverse geocoding, vector tiles, and directions.

For higher volumes, Ola Maps claims its rates are 50% lower than Google's reduced prices.

Aggarwal also announced that developers who commit to Ola Maps for over three years will have their charges waived for the first two years.

Additionally, Ola is offering three years of free access to Ola Maps APIs for all startups and small businesses building on ONDC.

"This move will significantly boost innovation among our network participants. It's inspiring to see homegrown tech leaders supporting India's digital transformation. This partnership exemplifies the collaborative spirit driving our tech revolution forward" said T Koshy, MD & CEO, ONDC.

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"While all main APIs are supported by Ola Maps today, we will be feature-complete for all kinds of APIs, SDKs and niche use cases by December" Aggarwal said.

This includes new APIs across different categories such as routes API, map tiles API, places API, and maps API; SDKs for web, Android, and iOS platforms.

The AI startup will also launch new application programming interfaces (APIs), software development kits (SDKs), and features in the coming months to bolster its offerings.

The company's new feature, 'Map Style Editor', allows users to create, edit, and publish custom map styles, while a dedicated test environment enables experimentation before full integration.

"It's time to make a change. Ola Maps is here to revolutionize your mapping experience. Don't settle for less – switch to OlaMaps and unlock superior mapping capabilities today!" the company website reads.

"To every Indian developer, every startup founder, every tech enthusiast: this is our moment. We will seize it and build world-class products that are proudly Indian and globally competitive. We will show the world that India isn't just a market - we're the next big tech powerhouse. The world is watching, and India is rising," the company wrote.

On July 5, Bhavish Aggarwal announced that the ride-hailing giant has fully transitioned from Google Maps to its in-house developed Ola Maps, achieving substantial annual savings of around Rs 100 crore.

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