EV major Ola Electric has launched its first Roadster X motorcycle from its Futurefactory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri, the model which the company had accounted in its February sales data.

The company aims to deliver these motorcycles across India by the end of this month, with availability expected in April, it said in a statement.

The pricing for the Roadster X series starts at INR 84,999, INR 94,999 and INR 1,04,999 for the X 2.5kWh, 3.5kWh and 4.5 kWh, respectively. 

The series extends to Roadster X+ 4.5kWh and Roadster X+ 9.1kWh models priced at INR 1,14,999 and INR 1,84,999, respectively.

“The Roadster X series represents our commitment to taking the EV revolution to the next level. Today’s roll-out celebrates not just a new product, but a new era for us and the industry, as it represents the next phase of revolution in electric mobility,” said Ola Electric’s head Bhavish Aggarwal. 

Ola has been under fire after a recent Bloomberg report suggested that it included bookings for yet-to-be launched vehicles in its February sales data, potentially inflating its market share.

The report further said that Ola Electric informed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a March 21 letter that it had counted bookings for 10,866 Gen3 escooters and 1,395 Roadster X motorcycles in its February sales. 

Following this, the ministry sought clarifications from Ola on its monthly sales. It also asked the company to revise its February 2025 sales data and include only those vehicles that were invoiced that month.

Countering the controversy around sales data, the EV maker said that the February 2025 sales announcements were based on paid and confirmed orders, not “preliminary bookings”. 

Further, it said that 90% of the orders were paid in full at the time of placement during February. The company added that these orders included its new two-wheelers Gen 3 and Roadster X, which went live for purchase during the same month.

Notably, Ola Electric first unveiled its electric motorcycle portfolio, ‘The Roadster Series’, during its annual event in August last year. 

In the most recent development, Ola Electric reportedly roped in consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) to overhaul its distribution network. 

EY will help Ola Electric “achieve regional compliance” as the EV manufacturer looks to push the pedal on same-day deliveries with its recently announced “HyperDelivery” offering, an NDTV report said. 

It is the second time that the listed company has hired the consulting firm in the past six months. In October 2024, Ola Electric roped in EY India to fix its service-related issues.

Further, Ola Electric was under Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) lens over allegations of delays in providing service and deliveries, defective vehicle sales, and other customer complaints.

In October last year, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) asked ARAI to verify if Ola Electric is honouring warranties and maintaining the requisite service centres.

In December last year, Ola Electric expanded its distribution network to 4,000 stores as part of its effort to fuel EV access and adoption across India.

On the financial front, Ola Electric’s consolidated net loss widened 50% to INR 564 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter, hurt by lower revenue. 

Its operating revenue declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24. Sequentially, it fell 14% from INR 1,214 Cr.

Shares of Ola Electric closed the trading session today 0.14% up at INR 50.19 on the BSE.

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EV major Ola Electric has reportedly roped in consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) to overhaul its distribution network. 

Citing sources, NDTV Profit reported that EY will help Ola Electric “achieve regional compliance” as the EV manufacturer looks to push the pedal on same-day deliveries with its recently announced “HyperDelivery” offering. 

Inc42 has reached out to Ola Electric for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

This is the second time that the listed company has hired the consulting firm in the past six months. In October 2024, Ola Electric roped in EY India to fix its service-related issues. However, the EV maker terminated its partnership with the consulting firm two months later over disagreements with founder and chairman and managing director Bhavish Aggarwal. 

Meanwhile, the EV maker has now reportedly informed the Maharashtra transport department that it is in the process of applying for trade certificates for all of its stores in the state. 

“We’re committed to ensure that we are fully compliant with the law and have either already applied for or are in the process of applying for relevant licences and approvals, including trade certificates for our stores,” Ola Electric told Maharashtra’s joint transport commissioner Ravi Gaikwad in a letter, dated April 5, as per a separate NDTV Profit report. 

This comes nearly a week after Maharashtra’s transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said that more than 300 Ola Electric stores in the state were operating on a single trade certificate, adding that the government would take penal action against the company “if the situation demands so”. 

Ola Electric’s Many Troubles

The partnership with EY comes at a time when Ola Electric has come under regulatory scrutiny as well as faced the ire of customers for below-par after-sales services, late deliveries, among other reasons. Not just this, the company is also facing investigations for reportedly operating 95% of its outlets without necessary trade certificates. 

With EY India’s help, Ola Electric could be looking to plug the compliance gaps and address regulatory bottlenecks. 

As part of its efforts to cut losses to improve its bottom line, the company began restructuring its operations earlier this year. Under this exercise, it began renegotiating its contracts with registration agencies to bring down expenses. However, this led to a delay in registrations of its EVs in February. 

Following this, one of the company’s vendors, Rosmerta Digital Services, also filed an insolvency petition against a subsidiary of Ola Electric. While the insolvency filing was later withdrawn, the EV manufacturer found itself under the scrutiny for mismatch in registration and sales data. 

Ola Electric’s vehicle registrations on Vahan portal stood at 8,600 units in February, but the company publicly claimed that it sold over 25,000 vehicles that month. Following this, the roads, transport and highways ministry (MoRTH) and heavy industries ministry (MHI) sent inquiries to the company for the data mismatch. 

As if this was not enough, a media report recently also alleged that Ola Electric counted bookings of its “unlaunched” electric bike and new electric scooters in its February sales data. However, the EV maker clarified that the sales number was based on paid and confirmed orders, not “preliminary bookings”.

Nevertheless, the EV giant has hired EY India as it looks to shore up its retail expansion. In February, Ola Electric shut all its regional warehouses across India and moved to an in-house model. Under this, the company plans to utilise its network of 4,400 retail stores to maintain vehicle inventory, spare parts, accessories, and last-mile deliveries.

That said, the overhaul of the distribution model and moving registration and other processes in-house is part of the company’s bid to trim costs amid rising competition from legacy players and dwindling stock prices. 

On the financial front, Ola Electric’s net loss zoomed 50% to INR 564 Cr in the third quarter (Q3) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24. 

Shares of the company closed today’s trading session 1.53% lower at INR 50.12 on the BSE. 

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EV maker Ather Energy is reportedly mulling cutting its IPO size by at least $50 Mn (about INR 430 Cr) from its earlier target of $400 Mn (about INR 3,460 Cr) amid the ongoing volatility in the Indian and the global stock markets.

Citing sources, Bloomberg reported that the company’s shareholders are considering offering a lower number of shares under the offer-for-sale component of the IPO.

The company’s proposed public issue, which received SEBI’s nod at the end of December last year, was to have a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 3,100 Cr (about $358 Mn) and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.2 Cr shares.

Institutional investors like Tiger Global, Caladium Investments, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), along with Ather’s cofounders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, were slated to offload shares as part of the IPO. 

Interestingly, Hero MotoCorp, Ather’s largest stakeholder with a 37.2% stake, has no plans to reduce its stake in the EV unicorn. 

High Speculations Over Ather IPO

The ongoing turmoil and negative investor sentiment in the global equities markets seems to have forced the shareholders of Ather to reconsider the quantum of their share sale. Ather didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries regarding the reduction in the OFS component till the time of publishing this story. 

Sources also told Bloomberg that Ather will look to file for its IPO in the upcoming weeks. Earlier, it was reported that the company planned to launch its public issue in the first half of April, with a potential valuation of around $1.6 Bn.

The market turmoil might also result in Ather seeking a lower valuation for the IPO, the report added without giving exact figures. A separate CNBC report, citing sources, said that the IPO will value Ather at $1.4 Bn.

It is pertinent to mention that Ather entered the unicorn club after its last private funding round, when it raised $71 Mn from NIIF at a post-money valuation of $1.3 Bn in September. 

The speculations over the company’s IPO valuation have ranged from $1.4 Bn to $2.5 Bn since it filed its IPO papers.

Negative Investor Sentiment Affects IPO Plans

The Indian equity market has been volatile owing to negative investor sentiment over the last few months. As if concerns over high valuations were not enough, the US’ decision to impose tariffs on almost all the countries across the globe have spooked investors and ignited fears of a global trade war.

As a result, the Indian benchmark indices have slumped nearly 6% year to date. This downturn coincided with Ather getting SEBI’s nod for its public issue.

The market turmoil has also led to an over 40% decline in the share prices of Ather’s listed archrival Ola Electric.

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While much has been said and written about the issues with Ola Electric’s February numbers in recent times, the company took to the bourses today to clarify on the statement labelling recent media reports as “misinformation”. 

A day after a Bloomberg report said that Ola Electric included “bookings” of electric scooters and motorcycles in the month of February without delivering them, the EV maker said that the February 2025 sales announcements were based on paid and confirmed orders, not “preliminary bookings”. 

Further, it said that 90% of the orders were paid in full at the time of placement during the month of February. The company added that these orders included its new two-wheelers Gen 3 and Roadster X, which went live for purchase during the month of February. 

“It is essential to underscore that vehicle deliveries are sequenced to follow confirmed orders with full payment—a standard and universally accepted industry practice. Any attempt to conflate bookings with full payment orders, or to suggest that deliveries must precede or immediately follow orders, misrepresents how the automotive industry functions,” Ola Electric’s April 8 regulatory filing read.

The Roadster Delivery Conundrum

From our preliminary investigation into the matter, sales executives across Ola Electric’s “experience centres” in Delhi informed us that the deliveries of the Ola Electric’s first e-motorcycles might take at least two more months. 

As per a March report by NDTV Profit, the company was facing troubles in taking Roadster on road as it was facing similar issues as Ola Electric’s Gen 1 scooters were facing. People in the know told the publication that the bikes were facing issues with its thermal management, battery pack, battery management system as well as the motor. 

At the time of the official unveiling of the motorcycles back in August 2024, the company said that the deliveries would commence in Q4 FY25. Besides, the company had said that the bookings were open back then. As per its filings today, Ola Electric refrained from commenting on whether the deliveries of the bikes began in the stipulated timeline. 

To be sure, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup unveiled three motorcycles under its portfolio back in August, namely, Roadster X, Roadster, and Roadster Pro. 

The entry-level bike Roadster X comes in three battery variants of 2.5 kWh, 3.5 kWh, and 4.5 kWh and are priced in the range of INR 74,999-INR 99,999. While Roadster X’s deliveries were scheduled to begin in the previous quarter, the company had announced plans to start deliveries of its top end bike, Roadster Pro, only by Q4 FY26.

Ola Electric’s February Blues

While the company cleared the air on some of the allegations in regards to the February data, it didn’t address whether it was being scrutinised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. 

As per the report by Bloomberg, the ministry wrote to the EV maker on March 21, seeking clarification on the monthly sales numbers. 

The report adds that of Ola Electric’s claimed sales of over 25,000 in the month of February, about 50% were accounted for by its Gen3 escooters and Roadster X motorcycles.

The ministry had also reportedly threatened the company to revise its numbers to display a more accurate picture or brace for “adverse action”. 

Besides the transport ministry, Ola Electric is also said to be under the lens of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. The MHI is also scanning discrepancies between Ola Electric’s sales figures and actual vehicle registrations. 

As per VAHAN data for the month, only 8,390 Ola Electric vehicles were registered on the portal in February, far less than the claimed 25,000. This marked a near 65% dip in sales from the month of January, when the EV maker had sold 24,376 escooters. 

Justifying the dip, the company said that the disruptions in the numbers came at the behest of an ongoing restructuring move which saw it renegotiate terms of agreements with its agencies Rosmerta Digital Services Pvt Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd.

The renegotiations, however, didn’t seem to pan out in favour of the company as Rosmerta filed for bankruptcy proceedings against Ola Electric’s subsidiary for allegedly defaulting on its payment obligations. On March 25, the company settled its pending dues with the vehicle registration service provider Rosmerta, leading to the withdrawal of insolvency petitions previously filed against it.

Pertinent to mention that the ongoing troubles for the company have triggered a freefall for its share prices in recent times. Ola Electric dipped to an all-time low of INR 45.55 during intraday trading yesterday (April 7), before recovering a bit to close at INR 50.83. 

Shares of Ola Electric were trading at INR 51.10, up 0.53% from previous close, as of 2:44 PM today. 

The post February Sales Data Included Paid Orders, Not Preliminary Bookings: Ola Electric appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric’s February Math Goes Wrong

Ola Electric may be counting chickens before the hatching. In yet another brush that may go wrong with the Indian regulators, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV maker is allegedly counting bookings of the vehicles that haven’t even hit the roads in its sales figures. 

What’s The News? Ola Electric allegedly included “unlaunched” Gen3 escooters and Roadster X motorcycles (likely in the production stage) in its February 2025 sales to boost reported market share. These vehicles accounted for nearly half of Ola’s claimed 25,207 “confirmed orders” in February. 

Calling The Sales Bluff: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has asked Ola to revise its data and warned of “adverse action”. The Ministry of Heavy Industries, too, is currently probing discrepancies between Ola Electric’s sales figures and actual vehicle registrations. Notably, only 8,600 vehicles were registered on the Vahan portal in February, far less than the claimed sales.

Already In The Line Of Fire: The EV maker is already under scrutiny for running stores without valid trade certificates. It has also shut down all of its experience centres in Punjab to allegedly avoid inspection. Besides, the consumer protection body is also investigating complaints related to shoddy services.

Steep Fall On The Bourses: The Ola Electric stock fell more than 13% yesterday to a record low of INR 45.55 to finally close at INR 50.83. Since its flat IPO listing in August 2024, Ola’s stock is down nearly 45%. Its market cap currently stands at INR 21,613 Cr.

With regulators expected to further tighten their noose to keep the listed Ola Electric on track, it would be anybody’s guess how the EV giant’s stock will tide through the current unforgiving markets. For now, let’s take a look at Ola Electric’s sales math gone wrong… 

From The Editor’s Desk

New-Age Tech Stocks Cry Havoc: Ten of the 32 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage touched fresh lows after Indian stock markets spiralled amid a looming global trade war. Interestingly, Delhivery zoomed 5% on the news of its acquisition of Ecom Express.

boAt’s Another Stab At IPO: The parent of wearables and audio brand, Imagine Marketing, has filed its draft papers for its IPO via the confidential filing route. This is the company’s second attempt at going public.

Juspay Secures $60 Mn: The fintech startup has raised $60 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Kedaara Capital and existing investors SoftBank and Accel. This follows Paytm discontinuing all integrations with Juspay last month.

Bare Anatomy Bags INR 136 Cr: The parent company of the beauty and personal care brand, Innovist, has raised INR 136 Cr in its Series B round led by ICICI Venture. Founded in 2018, Innovist is a ‘house of brands’ startup with a focus on haircare and skincare categories.

Easebuzz Nets INR 257 Cr: The B2B fintech startup has secured INR 257 Cr in its Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2014, Easebuzz helps businesses digitise their payments collection processes. 

Nykaa’s Q4 Projections: The parent entity of the fashion and beauty giant has said it witnessed a continued growth momentum in the fourth quarter of FY25, with consolidated net revenue growth expected to be in the low to mid-20% YoY range.

Turtlemint Eyes $250 Mn IPO: The insurtech startup is in talks with bankers to undertake a $200-250 Mn public listing later this year. Turtlemint plans to file its DRHP with SEBI by October. The startup helps financial advisors offer insurance to their customers.

Swiggy Gets Tax Notice: Maharashtra authorities have directed the foodtech giant to pay INR 7.59 Cr in back taxes for alleged violation of provisions pertaining to the deduction of professional tax from employees’ salaries. Swiggy plans to challenge the order. 

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Phot.AI Is Helping Brands Create, Automate & Scale Visuals 

India is anticipated to have over 500 Mn online shoppers by 2030. While there is no dearth of brands looking to capitalise on this booming demand, ecommerce brands need constant updates for product listings and marketing to maintain visual consistency across platforms, which can become a complex and resource-intensive exercise. 

Phot.AI To The Rescue: It helps ecommerce brands create eye-catching product images, ad designs, and marketplace listings without the hassle of manual design. Using AI, brands can instantly generate visuals for platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and Meta Ads. This helps brands speed up content production and accelerate A/B testing and conversion rates while reducing customer acquisition costs.

The Eye-Catching Tech Stack: The startup claims to offer 25+ AI-powered photo editing tools and an integrated design studio to streamline content creation. Since its inception, Phot.AI has witnessed 3 Mn signups not just in India but globally. 

What’s On The Horizon? The startup plans to expand its team, invest in R&D and launch its AI-powered copilot. Buoyed by $2.7 Mn seed funding, can this Info Edge-backed startup help companies charge up brand recall?

The post Ola Electric’s Feb Math Goes Wrong, Tech Stocks Bleed & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric is staring at strict regulatory action after the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company allegedly counted bookings of electric scooters and motorcycles that have not even been rolled out yet in its February sales to inflate its market share.

In a letter to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways dated March 21, Ola Electric said that its February sales figures included customer bookings for 10,866 Gen3 escooters and 1,395 Roadster X motorcycles, Bloomberg reported.

Ola has not even rolled out Roadster motorcycles yet, while it kicked off deliveries of Gen3 escooters last month. 

These two categories accounted for nearly half of 25,207 “confirmed orders” in February. Consequently, the ministry wrote to Ola on March 31, seeking clarification on its monthly sales, as per the report.

Ola Electric did not respond to Inc42 queries on the development till press time.

It must be noted that Ola claimed to have sold 25,000 vehicles in February, but only 8,600 vehicles were registered, as per data from the Vahan Portal. The company had previously described it as a “clear case of temporary backlog” caused due to negotiations with its vendors that are responsible for vehicle registrations.

In a statement released on April 1, Ola Electric said it had “nearly cleared” its February backlog and expected to clear the remaining backlog for the Feb-March period by the end of this month.

The ministry has reportedly asked Ola to revise the February 2025 sales data and include only those vehicles that were invoiced that month. It also warned the company of “adverse action” if it failed to respond within seven days of issuing the letter.

Although the Centre has not launched a formal probe into Ola over the matter yet, it may assess if the company ran afoul of any local laws or misreported its sales, as per the report.

Ola Neck Deep In Regulatory Trouble

This is the latest blow to Ola Electric, which is already facing regulatory scrutiny for allegedly operating stores lacking trade certificates. 

Amid discrepancies between the company’s reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations in February, Maharashtra RTO officials reportedly conducted a state-wide inspection of Ola showrooms last month and seized dozens of vehicles due to compliance violations.

The crackdown is just not limited to Maharashtra. Ola Electric is said to have shut down all its showrooms in Punjab, seemingly to avoid government heat over trade certification violations. Meanwhile, some reports suggested that RTO officials in Madhya Pradesh sent notices to Ola for allegedly selling unregistered escooters without valid trade certificates.

The EV maker is also being probed by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) over allegations of delays in providing service and deliveries, defective vehicle sales, and other customer complaints.

The Hype And Hubris Of Ola Electric

In its FY25 investor presentation released April 1, Ola Electric reiterated that it reduced its monthly cash burn by INR 90 Cr on the back of cost-cutting initiatives and expected to achieve EBITDA breakeven in the automotive segment in Q1 FY26.

To its credit, the company managed to retain its top spot in the electric two-wheeler segment in FY25 with 344K registrations and 30% market share despite cut-throat competition from the likes of Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor. 

However, it is important to note that Ola Electric’s market share has been on a steady decline since the second half of FY25. In fact, its share in the EV two-wheeler market shrank to 12% in February 2025 before improving somewhat to 18% in March 2025.

This adds to Ola’s existing troubles, the biggest of which probably being mounting losses. The electric mobility company saw its consolidated net loss balloon 50% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25, while operating revenue declined 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr.

With Ola grappling with problems on multiple fronts, its shares have experienced a sharp decline. The stock tanked over 13% in early trading hours today to hit a record low of INR 45.55 apiece on the BSE. However, it recovered some losses to end the day 3.05% lower at INR 50.83. 

The post Ola Electric Counted Unlaunched Models In February Sales: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Shares of Ola Electric nosedived over 13% to touch a fresh all-time low of INR 45.55 during the intraday trading session on the BSE today. 

With a slump in its share price, the company’s market capitalisation stood at INR 21,613 Cr with more than 2.37 Cr shares traded hands by 12:35 PM. 

At the time of writing, the stock recouped almost half of its losses and was trading 6.5% lower from its previous close (April 4) of INR 52.44 on the BSE. 

The decline in EV mobility company’s share price came amid broader market decline and global market crash after US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on a host of countries. 

Ola Electric made a stock market debut with a flat listing in August last year. The company’s shares were listed at INR 75.99 apiece on the BSE as against its IPO issue price of INR 76. 

Since its listing the stock price has dropped almost 45% as of its last close. In the short term, it ended five out of the last seven sessions in the red. 

On the financial front, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV company’s consolidated net loss widened by 50% to INR 564 Cr in third quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Its operating revenue declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Now, the company is looking to charge its battery game as Ola Electric’s board last week approved an infusion of INR 199 Cr in its battery manufacturing subsidiary Ola Cell Technologies (OCT). 

It is also piloting a new service dubbed ‘Hyper Delivery’ that will see the company offer same day registration and delivery of its escooters. It is initially piloting the service in Bengaluru and will scale it up across India during this quarter in a phased manner, it said in a statement.

As per a Bloomberg report today, Ola has allegedly counted bookings of electric scooters and motorcycles that have not even been rolled out yet in its February sales to inflate its market share.

In a letter to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways dated March 21, Ola Electric said that its February sales figures included customer bookings for 10,866 Gen3 escooters and 1,395 Roadster X motorcycles, the report said.

However, Ola has not even rolled out Roadster motorcycles yet, while it kicked off deliveries of Gen3 escooters last month. 

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Ola Electric seems to be on the cusp of a transformation. And we don’t necessarily mean with the number of scooters sold, its ambitious HyperDelivery model or the upcoming motorbikes. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led giant’s focus is turning to something that could open up a bigger market: battery and cell manufacturing.

With a proposed investment of INR 200 Cr in the battery subsidiary, Ola Electric is looking to take some of the focus away from sales figures in a competitive EV two-wheeler market, and is instead looking to not only improve its margins but contribute to India’s battery supply chain ecosystem as well.

To be clear, battery manufacturing has always been on the cards for Ola Electric. But this is the first big push we have seen from the company after it brought on board some bigwigs to lead this business in the pre-IPO days.

For instance, Hyun Shik Park, previously head of cell operations at LG’s so-called Mother Factory in South Korea, now leads the Ola Cells Gigafactory and is a critical link in Ola’s battery push given his prowess.

Now that Ola Electric is well into its life as a public company though, this push is a sign that relying on the sales prowess and building up a user base was not quite enough. To be clear, Ola Electric’s customer base is still strong, but now as Aggarwal & Co have come under competitive pressure, the focus needs to turn to the full EV stack.

Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor surpassed Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric in terms of electric scooter sales in March, continuing their dominance in the segment. Bajaj Auto topped the charts, with registrations of its Chetak electric scooters surging nearly 62% to 34,863 units last month from 21,537 units sold in February.

Ola Electric’s net loss surged 50% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25, while revenue from operations declined 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr.

Over the past three months, the OEM has been dousing fires on multiple fronts, including regulatory scrutiny, mounting losses, dwindling stock price, among others. It relied on cutting service and warranty related expenses to the tune of INR 32 Cr per month, and reduced its headcount to effectively save INR 29 Cr per month, according to the company.

In the meanwhile, the company’s shares have slumped over 32% over the past three months, and have been under the INR 60 mark since late February. With the new HyperDelivery model and the investment in scaling up battery manufacturing, Ola Electric would be hoping that

Ola Electric’s Season Of Woes

Largely to blame for this spiral are the raids at Ola Electric’s stores by state government departments in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and other states in February and March. This saw authorities impounding scooters and reports claimed a majority of the company’s 4,400 stores were operating without necessary trade certificates.

While Ola has denied these allegations, reports, as recently as this week, suggested authorities in Maharashtra are continuing to look into stores being operated potentially without licences. Ola Electric is likely to respond to the latest notice from the state government next week.

In addition, the heavy industries and transport ministries are probing the EV maker over alleged discrepancies between its reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations in February.

While these concerns are likely to be solved in the near future, Ola Electric’s focus is beyond that. Unlike peers such as Ather Energy or even Bajaj and TVS, Ola is manufacturing its own cells. It is worth noting that building cells in India is extremely important for the company from a strategic point of view because this was always the end goal for Aggarwal.

For every INR 100 spent on an electric scooter, over INR 32 goes towards importing cells and other components. Since March 31, 2024, Ola Cell Technologies has developed the capability to produce 1.4 GWh at the company’s Gigafactory in Krishnanagar, Tamil Nadu, located near the Ola Futurefactory.

This is not enough in the short term. In the past, Ola Electric had revealed plans to invest heavily in cell manufacturing till 2027 to meet the targets per year as promised under the PLI scheme to the Indian government.

The most recent investment in the battery manufacturing business is just the first step. Ola Electric is expected to continue investing in this business to increase production capacity to not just meet its internal demand but also supply to the rest of the industry.

As for the sales dip, Ola Electric has touted its HyperDelivery model as a saviour. Questions sent to Ola Electric about more context on the model and how exactly it is leveraging AI to solve the friction did not elicit a response. We will update this story if the company sends us the responses.

Here it’s important to note how exactly Ola Electric’s new HyperDelivery model fits with its company-owned stores approach. Since late last year, Ola Electric has added close to 3,000 new stores to its network, and each of these also has service facilities for customer support.

Some of the larger stores act like dealerships for Ola Electric, stocking scooters from the factory and delivering them to customers after registration. Now same-day delivery of scooters is not new, but same-day registration is something that has the potential to completely disrupt the market.  Usually, there’s some friction between OEMs and dealerships in terms of data and customer details, which leads to delays in registration.

But with Ola Electric being both the OEM and the dealer, this could indeed be streamlined to a certain degree. Whether it will always follow the same-day rule is hard to tell.

However, we have now seen a problem arise with how Ola expanded its stores in terms of the trading licence. Ola Electric sought complete ownership of the sales experience, and absorbing the registration process internally could lead to similar woes. The question also is will Ola Electric’s process comply fully with registration norms?

The market’s reaction to Ola Electric’s investments and the March sales figures will come over the course of the first month of the new fiscal year. And after that, a lot will rest on how impactful the cost-cutting of the past quarter has been. Crunch time for Aggarwal & Co as they face the public markets litmus test once again.

Stock In Focus: Zomato

This week, Zomato did what not many expected Zomato to do, but the signs were there. Amid slowing growth in its food delivery vertical and rising competition in the quick commerce space, foodtech giant Zomato laid off nearly 600 employees from its customer support team.

The company is leveraging AI to automate its customer support functions to trim costs, but the market was not convinced with this cost-cutting step quite as expected.

Zomato is expected to allow its AI-based product Nugget run the customer support show for now, but these are sensitive times in terms of market share in the food delivery and quick commerce space, so any drawbacks in customer retention could hurt Zomato badly.

However, lower costs are typically welcomed by investors, and that’s one of the reasons why Zomato had a bright start to the week. Will Zomato see another big rally in the coming weeks just as we saw in the early days of 2024, or will that entirely depend on the company’s Q4 results?

IPO Watch, Acquisitions & More 

• Globalbees Gets A Boost: FirstCry has transferred the first tranche of the INR 146 Cr infusion in the house of brands, with an investment of INR 73 Cr, as the ecommerce giant looks to diversify its revenue mix
• Navi Eyes IPO This Year: Sachin Bansal-led fintech unicorn Navi is looking to get listed on the bourses in the current fiscal year, the founder said during a session at the Startup Mahakumbh
• Swiggy Gets Tax Notice: Swiggy has received a tax demand notice from the Income Tax Department to pay INR 158 Cr for allegedly miscounting deductions for cancellation charges paid to merchants
• Kissht’s Listing Plan: Digital lending startup Kissht is gearing up for a public offering of $225 Mn with ICICI Securities, UBS Securities, and Motilal Oswal expected to lead the IPO

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Recyclers in India have collected 2,570.26 metric tonnes of lithium-ion waste batteries generated from electric vehicles (EVs) in the last three years, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Singh was responding to a question by MP Renuka Chowdhury, who asked details on the total battery waste generated from lithium-ion batteries used in EVs across the country. However, the minister did not disclose this data.

In his written response to another query in Rajya Sabha, the minister said that India generated 17.78 Lakh metric tonnes of electronic waste in the fiscal year 2023-24, up 10.5% from 16.09 Lakh metric tonnes in the previous fiscal year. 

Overall, e-waste generated over the last three years in the country stood at 49.88 Lakh metric tonnes, he said.

The minister said that improper disposal of waste batteries can cause contamination of soil and water. 

The Dead Battery Dilemma

Amid the Centre’s push for electrification and decarbonisation of mobility, total EV registrations, across categories, jumped 22% to 20.46 Lakh units in FY25 from 16.83 Lakh units in the previous fiscal year. Electric two-wheelers accounted for 56% of all EV registrations in FY25.

While adoption of EVs is on the rise in India, batteries powering these vehicles pose a unique problem. Unlike the internal combustion engine (ICE) that can be rebuilt, an EV battery will inevitably degrade and will need to be replaced.

As per NITI Aayog estimates, India will have a cumulative stock of 600 GWh of lithium-ion batteries by 2030. Of this, about 128 GWh will be available for recycling, with 46% (59 GWh) estimated to be coming from EVs alone.

Most of today’s electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, which rely on rare earth minerals such as cobalt, lithium and nickel. However, extracting these minerals from their ores is expensive and can cause environmental pollution.

Centre’s EV Push For Sustainability 

To ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries, the Centre notified the Battery Waste Management rules in August 2022. These rules apply to all types of batteries, including EV batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries.

They follow the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle, which mandates producers, including importers, of batteries to procure, recycle or refurbish waste batteries. EPR prohibits disposal of waste batteries in landfills and its incineration.

In an effort to boost domestic manufacturing in sunrise sectors, the Centre introduced the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) in 2020. Under the initiative, the government provides sops for manufacturing electronic goods that comprise the downstream value chain of electronic products which includes an e-waste recycling facility for extraction of metals from electronic components.

Amid the government’s push for EVs, through schemes like PM E-DRIVE, FAME and PLI, with EV sales estimated to account for 35% of all vehicle sales, India is expected to reduce its carbon emissions by 4 Bn tonnes by 2030.

The post Over 2,500 Metric Tonnes Of EV Battery Waste Collected In Last 3 Years: Govt appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric is piloting a new service dubbed ‘Hyper Delivery’ that will see the company offer same day registration and delivery of its escooters.

Ola Electric is initially piloting the service in Bengaluru and will scale it up across India during this quarter in a phased manner, it said in a statement. 

The move is a continuation of the company’s strategic decision to “leverage AI for automation and move its vehicle registration process in-house”.

“Ola Electric has implemented AI to automate the majority of the steps in a registration process, thereby enabling it to eliminate the middlemen associated with the typical registration process. This has enabled the company to introduce the initiative of #HyperDelivery,” the company said.

Shares of Ola Electric ended today’s trading session almost flat at INR 54.06 on the BSE.

What Is Behind The New Initiative?

Ola Electric was the de facto leader in the Indian two-wheeler EV space in FY25, having clocked 3.44 Lakh vehicle registration and a 30% market share during the fiscal. However, cracks started to emerge towards the end of the fiscal. 

Amid mounting competition from legacy automotive players Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor, the EV giant’s market share withered to 12% in February and then improved somewhat to 18% in March 2025. However, the dip was not unexpected. 

In February, Ola Electric informed the bourses that it was witnessing delays in EV registrations due to its ongoing negotiations with registration agencies. Part of the company’s larger plan to curb losses and strengthen margins, the negotiations went south as one of the vendors, Rosmerta Digital Services, filed an insolvency petition against subsidiary Ola Electric Technologies for unpaid dues. 

Acting quickly, the EV maker settled the case and has now lined up plans to deploy AI to move the registration process in-house. On the back of this, Ola Electric now plans to clear the backlog by April-end.

The latest move will also help the company address complaints about allegations of delays in providing service and deliveries. 

However, the Aggarwal-led company has also been grappling with multiple other issues, with the biggest one probably being mounting losses. 

Ola Electric’s Strategy To Improve Bottom Line

The company’s path to profitability will be built on three pillars – product portfolio expansion, sales & network expansion and automation, it said in an investor presentation on Tuesday (April 1).

It must be noted that the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company added over 3,200 stores to its existing EV distribution network in December, taking the total tally to 4,000. 

In the presentation, the EV maker said that this has helped it bring down its service turnaround time by around 56% in the last few months. While it took the company 2.5 days on an average to resolve service requests in September 2024, this improved to 1.1 days in January-February 2025, it said.

The company expects its vehicle inventory will decrease to 20 days in the June quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (Q1 FY26) from 35 days in Q4 FY25. It also projected that its delivery time would reduce to 3-4 days in Q1 FY26 from 12 days in Q4 FY25.

It is pertinent to mention that Ola Electric forayed into the ebike market with the launch of Roadster X series in February. Prior to that, it also unveiled the Gen 3 portfolio of its Ola S1 scooters.

Last year, reports surfaced that Ola Electric was working on an electric three-wheeler, potentially named ‘Raahi’, with plans to launch it in 2026. In the presentation, the company said that its product map for Q2 FY26 and beyond includes the launch of three-wheeler passenger and cargo vehicles.

Recently, the EV maker’s board also approved an infusion of INR 199 Cr in its battery manufacturing subsidiary Ola Cell Technologies.

On the back of all these, the company is looking to improve its bottom line and turn profitable. In Q3 FY25, Ola Electric’s net loss widened 50% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 564 Cr. Meanwhile, operating revenue declined 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter.

The post Ola Electric Piloting Same Day Registration & Delivery Of EVs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Electric two-wheeler registrations spiked above the 1 Lakh mark in March for the first time in four months, fuelled by aggressive growth of key players like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor and Ola Electric.

As per Vahan data as on April 1, 2025, registrations of electric two-wheelers in the country zoomed over 70% to 1.30 Lakh units last month from 76,572 units in February. 

Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor surpassed Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric yet again in terms of escooter sales in March, continuing their dominance in the segment.

Bajaj Auto topped the charts, with registrations of its Chetak escooters surging nearly 62% to 34,863 units last month from 21,537 units sold in February. However, its market share shrank to under 27% in March from 28% in February.

With a market share of a little over 23%, TVS Motor retained its second spot in the electric two-wheeler segment. Its escooter registrations stood at 30,454 units in March, up 61% from 18,911 units in the previous month. 

Ola Electric saw registrations of its EV two-wheelers skyrocket 171% to 23,430 units last month from 8,653 units in February. As a result, its market share improved to 18% in March from 11% held in the previous month.

It must be noted that Ola Electric’s EV sales took a beating in the latter half of the fiscal year ended March 2025 (FY25) amid heightened competition from Bajaj and TVS. 

However, in an investor presentation released yesterday, Ola Electric said it maintained its leadership position in the electric two-wheeler segment in FY25 with a 30% market share and registration of 3.44 Lakh units. 

Overall, electric two-wheeler registrations in the country climbed more than 21% to 11.49 Lakh units in FY25 from 9.48 Lakh units in the previous fiscal year, as per Vahan data.

It is pertinent to mention that Ola Electric claimed in February that it sold over 25,000 units, but the registration of its vehicles on the Vahan portal was temporarily disrupted due to its negotiations with its registration vendor.

In a statement yesterday, the company said that its daily registration volumes and backlog clearance are steadily improving. “We have nearly cleared the February backlog and expect to complete the remaining February–March registrations in April 2025,” it added.

Top OEMs See Rise In EV Registrations 

Besides the top three players, others like Ather Energy, Greaves and Pure EV also saw a rise in their two-wheeler registrations last month. 

IPO-bound Ather’s escooter registrations stood at 15,446 last month, up 29% from 11,944 EVs registered in February. However, its market share declined to under 12% in March from 15.6% in the previous month despite the uptick in registrations. 

It is pertinent to mention that market regulator SEBI greenlit Ather Energy’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for INR 3,100 Cr+ IPO in January. As per reports, the EV manufacturer is eyeing a valuation of $1.2 Bn for its IPO, which is expected to be launched in April.

Hero MotoCorp, an emerging player in the space, saw its market share climb to a little over 6% in March with 7,977 EV units registered during the month. Meanwhile, Greaves, under its flagship brand Ampere, saw registrations zoom 51% to 5,663 EV units in March from 3,729 units registered in February.

Similarly, the likes of IPO-bound Pur Energy (Pure EV), Lectrix, Kinetic Green Energy, Revolt and Oben Electric also saw registrations of their two-wheeler EVs rise last month, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Two-Wheelers Driving EV Adoption In India

This comes at a time when the competition in the two-wheeler EV market is intensifying and the likes of Bajaj, TVS and Ola Electric are making all efforts to gain, or at least, retain their market share. 

These players have launched a number of new models in recent months at competitive price points. For instance, Ola Electric forayed into the electric motorcycle market with the launch of Roadster X series, which comes at an introductory price of INR 84,999. Last month, the EV manufacturer also kicked off deliveries of its Gen 3 portfolio of Ola S1 escooters. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto rolled out new EV models of its iconic Chetak scooter.

Besides, smaller players are also entering new segments. For instance, high-end ebike maker Ultraviolette forayed into the escooter market with the launch of ‘Tesseract’ last month.

Amid all these, the total EV registrations in the country, across categories, shot up nearly 44% to 2.11 Lakh units in March from 1.47 Lakh units in the month prior. 

For the entire fiscal year 2024-25, total EV registrations rose 22% to 20.46 Lakh units from 16.83 Lakh units in FY24. This implies that electric two-wheelers accounted for 56% of all EV registrations in FY25. 

The post EV 2-Wheeler Registrations Cross 1 Lakh Mark In March, Bajaj & TVS Motor Continue Dominance appeared first on Inc42 Media.

EV maker Ola Electric’s board has approved an infusion of INR 199 Cr in its battery manufacturing subsidiary Ola Cell Technologies (OCT). 

In an exchange filing, the EV manufacturer said that it will acquire 19.9 Cr compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) in its wholly-owned subsidiary at INR 10 apiece. The listed company expects the all-cash deal to be completed by April 30, 2025.

The fresh proceeds will be used by Ola Cell Technologies to “support its business requirements”.

In addition, Ola Electric’s board also gave its nod to convert outstanding payables to the tune of INR 61.2 Cr owed by OCT into 6.12 Cr CCPS. 

“The conversion of the outstanding payables into compulsorily convertible preference shares by OCT to the company is part of its overall strategic decision,” the filing added. 

Incorporated in 2022, OCT manufactures, assembles, exports and sells batteries and cells.

The proposed INR 200 Cr infusion in OCT comes nearly a month after Ola Electric received a notice from the heavy industries ministry (MHI) for failure to meet its targets under the INR 18,100 Cr production-linked-incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cells (ACCs). 

This also coincides with Ola Electric recently saying that it plans to commence commercial production of lithium-ion cells in Q1 FY26.

Ola Electric’s Other Decisions Pertaining To Subsidiaries

The company’s board also greenlit a proposal to convert outstanding payables worth INR 250 Cr of wholly owned subsidiary Ola Electric Technologies (OET) into 25 Cr preference shares of INR 10 each. 

Meanwhile, the board also approved a plan to convert outstanding loan extended to OET and accrued interest to the tune of INR 70.55 Cr into 7.05 Cr CCPS. 

Part of EV maker’s “strategic decisions”, both transactions are expected to close by April 30. 

Set up in 2021, OET is engaged in the business of providing services across the EV value chain as well as manufacture and supply of electric vehicles.

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company also said that it will pump INR 3.5 Cr in its charging infrastructure subsidiary Ola Electric Charging (OEC) Pvt Ltd to acquire 35 Lakh CCPS at INR 10 each. 

Expected to close by September 30, the infusion will help OEC “support its business requirements”.

Alongside, the board also approved a proposal for the conversion of outstanding payables to the tune of INR 2.6 Cr of OEC into 26 Lakh preference shares. 

Incorporated in 2021, OEC is in the business of manufacturing, installing, and commissioning of charging stations for EVs.

Ola Electric’s Many Troubles

Lately, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has been dousing fires on multiple fronts, including regulatory scrutiny, mounting losses, dwindling stock price, among others.

Ola Electric’s net loss surged 50% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25, while revenue from operations declined 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review. Meanwhile, the company’s shares have slumped over 41% in the past three months. 

Largely to blame for this spiral are the raids by transport departments of multiple states, including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, at Ola Electric’s showrooms. This saw authorities impounding 50 scooters in the two states amid a report that more than 95% of the company’s 3,400 showrooms were operating without necessary trade certificates. 

In addition, MHI and Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was also probing the EV maker over alleged discrepancies between its reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations in February. 

While the company claims to have sold 25,000 scooters last month, the Vahan portal only showed 8,600 new registrations during the same period. The company attributed the difference to the ongoing negotiations with its vendors (or registration agencies). 

As if this was not enough, one of OET’s vendors, Rosmerta Digital Services, filed an insolvency petition against the company over alleged unpaid dues. However, the registration agency withdrew the plea last week. 

Shares of Ola Electric closed Friday’s (March 28) trading session 3.81% lower at INR 52.97 on the BSE.

The post Ola Electric To Infuse INR 199 Cr In Battery Manufacturing Arm appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Maharashtra government has reportedly shelved a proposal to introduce a 6% “vehicle tax” on electric vehicles (EVs) priced above INR 30 Lakh. 

As per news agency PTI, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday informed the local legislative council that the government will not implement the proposed tax. Citing his rationale, Fadnavis said that the move will not generate “enough revenue” and undermine the government’s push for EVs. 

His comments came while responding to a question from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab during a discussion on EVs and air pollution. Raising his concerns, Parab said that the tax would prove counter-productive and “contradict” the government’s broader objective of encouraging clean mobility.

Agreeing with the member of legislative council (MLC), Fadnavis added, “It could send a wrong signal about our commitment to electric mobility. Therefore, the state government will not go ahead with the 6% tax on high-end electric vehicles”.

This comes weeks after the state government proposed a “vehicle tax” on EVs priced above INR 30 Lakh in Budget 2025-26. At the time, finance minister Ajit Pawar had said that the move would help the state government generate an additional INR 170 Cr annually.

Maharashtra’s EV Push: Addressing the legislative council during the question hour, Fadnavis also asserted that the state was emerging as the “national capital” of EVs on the back of upcoming “major” manufacturing plants in Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. 

“Maharashtra is becoming the national capital of electric vehicles. This is primarily because significant EV manufacturing plants are being established in Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,” he added.

The CM further said that EVs were  witnessing increasing adoption, adding that more than 2,500 electric buses were being added to the public transport sector in the state in a phased manner. He also said that more than 50% of newly registered vehicles in the state were now EVs. 

Besides exemption from road tax and registration fees for all EVs in the state, the local government also offers subsidies and other sops to both individuals and private enterprises. 

This is in line with the Centre’s larger push for clean mobility to boost EV adoption and manufacturing. Last year, the union government unveiled the INR 10,900 Cr PM E-DRIVE scheme to offer subsidies to manufacturers and shore up the local charging infrastructure.

The post Maharashtra Govt Scraps 6% Tax On EVs Above INR 30 Lakh appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric Technologies Private Limited, a subsidiary of Ola Electric Mobility Limited, has settled all its pending dues with vehicle registration service provider Rosmerta Group, leading to the withdrawal of insolvency petitions previously filed against it.

Rosmerta Group has filed a memorandum for the withdrawal of the said petitions from the NCLT, Bengaluru.

“Ola Electric Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ola Electric Mobility, has settled all its dues. With the receipt of INR 26.75 Cr, which consists of the entire claim raised before NCLT, Rosmerta Group companies are withdrawing their petitions before NCLT, Bengaluru,” an India Today report said quoting Rosmerta statement.

The development comes almost two weeks after the Rosmerta Group filed an insolvency plea proceeding against the Bengaluru-based company. The petition, submitted before the Bengaluru bench of NCLT, alleged a default in payment for the services rendered by the operational creditor and sought the initiation of the corporate insolvency resolution process against Ola Electric Technologies.

Contract Renegotiations Impact EV Registrations: After a weak performance in the third quarter of the financial year ending March 2025 (Q3 FY25), Ola Electric had said that it expected its EV registrations for the month of February to have a “temporary impact”.

Back then, the company said in an exchange filing that its registrations on Vahan will be “temporarily impacted” due to it renegotiating terms of agreements with its agencies Rosmerta Digital Services Pvt Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd.

The EV maker signed contracts with both the service providers in December 2021.

While Rosmerta Digital Services offers digital services and distribution for vehicle registrations, last-mile delivery, among others, to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Shimnit manufactures high-security registration plates for vehicles plying on the Indian roads.

According to Vahan data, the Bhavish Aggrawal-led company lost its top spot as a market leader in the E2W segment for the month of February with a whopping 65% fall in registration to 8,390 units from 24,376 units recorded in the previous month.

However, Ola Electric claimed in a statement that it sold over 25,000 units in February and remained a leader in the E2W segment with a market share of 28%.

Ola Electric Vs Regulatory Hurdles: Lately, the company has found itself in hot waters with regulatory agencies. It was reported that six Ola Electric’s stores in Madhya Pradesh and 26 in Maharashtra were raided by transport authority officials following allegations of lack of proper documentation and trade certificates. However, sources told Inc42 that these actions were not raids and were rather inspections carried out by the regional authorities.

Widening Losses For Ola Electric: The company’s consolidated net losses widened 50% to INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter. The losses increased 14% on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis from INR 495 Cr. Its revenue from operations also plunged 19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Some Respite On D-Street: Despite a tussle with regulatory authorities and slapped with an insolvency plea, stocks of Ola Electric zoomed 10.80% during the last week period from March 13 to March 21, closing last week’s session at INR 56. The stocks rebounded after it touched an all time low on March 18 at INR 46.32.

Today (on March 25), the company’s stocks closed 2.82% lower at INR 54.15 on the BSE. However, the stocks rallied as much as 7% to hit an intraday high at INR 58.

EV Startup Landscape In India: According to Inc42’s study on the EV landscape in India, the Indian startup ecosystem is home to about 119 funded startups operating in this industry who have raised about $3.7 Bn since 2014. The Indian EV market will become a $132 Bn opportunity by 2030.

The post Ola Electric Resolves Financial Disputes With Rosmerta Group, NCLT Pleas Withdrawn appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listed electric vehicle (EV) juggernaut Ola Electric has commenced the deliveries of its S1 Gen 3 scooter range across India through its network of stores. 

The portfolio comprises three models namely S1 Pro+, S1 Pro, and S1 X. While S1 Pro+ is available in 5.3kWh and 4kWh variants, S1 Pro has been launched in 4kWh and 3kWh variants. Meanwhile, S1 X scooters are available in four variants, namely S1 X+ (4kWh) and S1 X (4kWh, 3kWh, and 2kWh).

Prices start at INR 79,999 for the S1 X (2kWh) and go all the way up to INR 1,69,999 for the S1 Pro+ (5.3kWh with 4680 Bharat Cell). 

In a statement, the company claimed that the Gen 3 platform will offer a 20% increase in peak power, an 11% reduction in cost, and a 20% boost in range compared to its predecessor. The Gen 3 platform will also feature a mid-drive motor with chain drive, an integrated Motor Control Unit (MCU), and a dual ABS system with brake-by-wire technology. 

As per the company, the S1 Pro+ scooter, which can notch a top speed of 141 km/h, offers a range of up to 320 km. On the other hand, the S1 Pro can clock a maximum speed of 125 km/h and a range of 242 km.  

In addition, while the S1 X can achieve a top speed of up to 123 km/h and a maximum range of 242 km, S1 X+ has a top speed of 125 km/h and a 242 km range.

The latest launch comes at a time when Ola Electric has been experimenting with a slew of new launches. Recently, the electric vehicle (EV) maker entered the electric motorcycle segment with its Roadster X series as well.

Nevertheless, Ola Electric has been courting headlines for all the wrong reasons in the recent past. 

Ola Electric Under Regulatory Lens 

Despite splurging heavily on product expansions and a growing store network, Ola Electric continues to face significant regulatory headwinds. Earlier this month, a report claimed that more than 95% of Ola Electric’s 3,400 showrooms were operating without necessary trade certificates. 

What followed was that transport authorities in multiple states, including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, reportedly raided the EV maker’s outlets and impounded as many as 50 scooters in the two states.

Responding to the charges, Ola Electric informed the bourses that it was actively engaging with regulators and ensuring compliance.

Additionally, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is investigating the company over alleged discrepancies between Ola Electric’s reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations. While the company claims to have sold 25,000 scooters in February, the Vahan portal only recorded 8,600 new registrations for the same period. 

Previously, the EV maker informed the bourses in February that its ongoing negotiations with its vendors (or registration agencies) would lead to a difference in sales numbers. The company claims to be addressing the issue and expects the backlog to be cleared by the end of March 2025.

However, the matter took a different turn as one of its vendors Rosmerta Digital Services, in March 2025, filed an insolvency petition against Ola Electric technologies over alleged unpaid dues.

Making matters worse is the growing losses of Ola Electric. The EV maker saw its consolidated net loss surge 50% to INR 564 Cr in the third quarter (Q3) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, revenue from operations also declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in Q3 FY24.

On account of these headwinds, Ola Electric’s stock has been on a downward spiral. Shares of the company have declined 40.28% in the last three months. Ola Electric’s stock also hit an all-time low of INR 46.32 on March 17. 

Ola Electric shares closed Friday’s (March 21) trading session 8.4% higher at INR 56 on the BSE. 

The post Ola Electric Kicks Off Deliveries Of S1 Gen 3 Scooters appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ola Electric said it has received notices in four states with regard to trade certificates for a few of its stores, and it is in the process of responding to them

This comes amid reports that the company’s stores have been seeing raids by regional transport offices in multiple states of the country for not having the required trade certificates. 

Earlier, a Bloomberg report said that about 95% of the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company’s 3,400 showrooms across India are selling or offering test rides to users without the required trade certificate. While a spokesperson of the company called the agency’s investigation “misplaced” and “prejudiced”, this is the first disclosure by it to the exchanges on the issue.

The disclosure came after the exchanges sought clarification from Ola Electric on news reports about heavy industries ministry (MHI) seeking information from the company about discrepancies in its sales data.

The company said that the MHI and road transport and highways ministry (MoRTH) have sent queries to it about the mismatch in its sales data and registration data on the Vahan portal for the month of February. Besides, they have sought clarification on news reports of its stores operating without trade certificates.

The company said it is in the process of responding to the queries of the ministries. 

In a separate statement, Ola Electric reiterated that the delay in registrations of its vehicles on Vahan was due to its ongoing negotiations with its vendors responsible for registrations.

“This backlog is being rapidly cleared, with daily registrations exceeding 50% of our three-month daily sales average. 40% of the February backlog has already been cleared, and the remaining will be fully resolved by the end of March 2025,” it added.

Amid these, the company’s shares surged over 9% to INR 56.55 during the early morning trade today. At 11:48 AM, the stock was trading 7.96% higher at INR 55.77 on the BSE.

It is pertinent to note that Ola Electric’s vehicle registrations on Vahan portal stood at 8,600 in February, while the company claimed that it sold over 25,000 vehicles last month.

Earlier in February, the company said that its registrations for February would be “temporarily impacted” as it was renegotiating terms of agreements with its agencies Rosmerta Digital Services Pvt Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd. 

Following this, Rosmerta, earlier this month, filed an insolvency plea against Ola Electric’s subsidiary Ola Electric Technologies for alleged default in payments. obligations. 

Shares of Ola Electric have been under pressure over the past few months over increasing losses, rising competition, and regulatory scrutiny. On a year-to-date basis, its shares have slumped 40%.

The company has embarked on a cost-cutting exercise to reduce its losses. As part of this, it was said to be looking to cut 1,000 jobs.

Recently, Ola Electric said that the cost-cutting exercise has helped it reduce its monthly cash burn by INR 90 Cr.

The post Ola Electric Says Received Notices In 4 States Pertaining To Trade Certificate  appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Auto giant Hero MotoCorp on Thursday (March 20) announced that it will invest up to INR 525 Cr in electric three-wheeler manufacturer Euler Motors.

In a filing with the exchanges, the auto giant said that its board approved a proposal to acquire a “significant stake” in the electric vehicle (EV) startup in one or more tranches, in a mix of primary and secondary investments.

As part of the deal, Hero MotoCorp will pick up equity shares and Series D compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) in Euler Motors for a stake of nearly 32.5% on a fully-diluted basis. In addition, the auto giant said that it may also acquire Euler shares from existing stakeholders as part of the INR 525 Cr deal. 

Hero MotoCorp expects the transaction to be completed by April 2025. 

In a statement, the two-wheeler maker said that the investment will help it find a “strong foothold” in the fast-growing electric three-wheeler market. 

“As we strengthen and diversify our emerging mobility portfolio, this strategic investment allows Hero MotoCorp to venture into a rapidly growing electric three and four-wheeler market, while unlocking adjacent business opportunities and continuing to cement its leadership in the future of sustainable mobility,” said Hero MotoCorp in a statement. 

Commenting on the deal, Hero MotoCorp’s executive chairman Pawan Munjal said, “… This investment reinforces our commitment to accelerated growth through both organic and inorganic expansion, while highlighting the power of collaboration and adaptability in an ever-evolving market”.

The development comes a couple of months after Euler Motors announced that it has secured up to $20 Mn in debt from responsAbility Investments AG. In January itself, the Delhi NCR-based startup also sold its mobility business to EV fleet startup MoEVing for an undisclosed amount. 

Founded in 2018 by Saurav Kumar, Euler Motors is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) which designs, manufactures, sells and services electric three-wheelers. It also caters to the logistics, commercial mobility and ecommerce sector with its electric mini trucks for heavy and light loads.

It claims to have presence in more than 30 cities across India and operates more than 500 charging hubs across Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Backed by the likes of Blume Ventures, Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments, British International Investment (BII), among others, Euler Motors has raised more than $93 Mn in funding to date.

As per Hero MotoCorp’s filings, the electric three-wheeler’s turnover stood at INR 25 Cr in the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22), which jumped to INR 49 Cr in FY23. Euler Motors’ turnover rose multifold to INR 172 Cr as of INR FY24.

As per government data, India clocked 6.91 Lakh electric three wheeler registrations in 2024, up 18% from 5.83 Lakh units in 2023. EVs accounted for 56% of the total 12.2 Lakh three-wheelers sold in the country last year. The growth has primarily been driven by factors such as increasing adoption of EVs by ecommerce platforms for last-mile delivery as well as the government’s policy boost.

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There seems to be no end to Ola Electric’s troubles. After facing heat from its customers for a large part of 2024, the EV maker now seems to have hit a regulatory snag. 

Citing inspection letters, a report by NDTV Profit said that at least six Ola Electric stores in Madhya Pradesh and 26 stores in Maharashtra were raided by regional transport officials in mid-March. 

The report added that 14 Ola Electric scooters were impounded by authorities in MP’s Jabalpur, while 36 escooters were seized in Maharashtra. 

However, sources close to the company told Inc42 that these were not raids but “inspections” carried out by the state transport authorities based on a complaint filed by an anonymous person, alleging lack of proper documentation. 

The NDTV Profit report, citing an inspection report, said that the raids were carried out on the basis of a complaint filed by Gurugram-based Pritpal Singh & Associates, alleging that Ola Electric has been setting up “showrooms, stores and service centres in Maharashtra by obtaining a single trade certificate”.

The raids (or inspections) by the transport departments in these states is just an extension of what the company is facing in Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar. 

About two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that transport officials across India had increased scrutiny of Ola Electric due to the company lacking the required trade certificate for most of its stores.

It is pertinent to note that amid rising complaints about delays in delivery of escooters and after-sales service, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV company expanded its network to 4,000 stores in December last year from 800 earlier.

Selling Without A Licence?: The Bloomberg report alleged that the company has been operating its stores without obtaining the necessary certifications outlined under the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Under the Act, vehicle distributors and manufacturers are required to obtain business certificates to showcase and sell unregistered vehicles from their stores. 

As per the report, about 95% of the company’s 3,400 showrooms across India were selling or offering test rides to users without the required trade certificate. 

However, a spokesperson of Ola Electric called Bloomberg’s investigation into the matter of non-compliance “misplaced” and “prejudiced”. 

The spokesperson added that the company maintains an inventory of unregistered vehicles at its distribution centres and warehouses across Indian states “which are fully compliant with the guidelines of the Motor Vehicles Act, and have the necessary approvals”.

MHI Calls Out The Sales Bluff: As if the scrutiny of the transport departments of the states wasn’t enough, the company has been successful in attracting the attention of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) with regard to the number of vehicles sold. 

According to a report by CNBC-TV18, the MHI is currently investigating discrepancies between the company’s reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations. 

While the Vahan portal records 8,600 new Ola Electric registrations in February, the company claims to have sold 25,000 scooters.

However, what’s worth noting is that the company informed the bourses in February that its registrations for the month would see a “temporary impact” as it was in the process of renegotiating terms of agreements with its agencies Rosmerta Digital Services Pvt Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd.

It further seems that even renegotiations are also not going well. Last week, Rosmerta filed a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against Ola Electric’s subsidiary Ola Electric Technologies for allegedly defaulting on its payment obligations.

Shares Crash: While there has been no official communication from the EV maker about the reported raids, the company’s shares have been facing heavy selling pressure over the past few months. 

After touching an all-time low of INR 46.32 on Monday (March 17), Ola Electric’s shares jumped about 12% on Tuesday (March 18) amid recovery in the broader market.

However, the stock again came under pressure today and ended the trading session 4.01% lower at INR 51.66 on the BSE. The company’s market capitalisation now stands at $2.64 Bn as against its IPO valuation of $4 Bn.

The post More Troubles For Ola Electric: Raids At Stores, Comes Under MHI’s Lens appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After a steep decline over the last few months, shares of Ola Electric zoomed 14% to INR 53.48 during early trading on the BSE today.

At 11:48 AM, the stock was trading at INR 53.24 apiece. At this level, the company’s market capitalisation stood at INR 23,483.26 Cr and about 9 Cr shares were traded during the day till then. 

The jump in shares came as the broader market also saw a rally today. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty 50 were up 1.23% and 1.19%, respectively. 

Shares of Ola Electric plunged nearly 7% yesterday following the company’s disclosure that one of its subsidiaries is facing bankruptcy proceedings.

Rosmerta Digital Services, which provides registration services to Ola Electric, filed a plea before the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Ola Electric Technologies, alleging that it defaulted on its payments. 

Ola Electric disputed these claims and stated that it will take the necessary legal steps to safeguard its interests.

The development came almost a month after the Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV company said that it was reconsidering its agreements with registration service providers Rosmerta and Shimnit India. At the time, Ola Electric said that these discussions would temporarily impact its EV registrations on the Vahan portal.

A report also said that Ola Electric was exploring in-house vehicle registrations as part of a broader cost-cutting exercise.

Last week, Ola Electric said that it has been able to reduce its monthly cash burn by INR 90 Cr led by the cost-cutting measures. However, the company said it was in the final stages of revamping its vehicle registration process.

As part of the cost-cutting exercise, the company was also reported to be in the process of cutting over 1000 jobs.

Ola Electric’s net loss zoomed more than 50% to INR 564 Cr in the December quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 376 Cr a year ago and its operating revenue declined 19% to INR 1,045 Cr in this period. 

Besides, the company is also facing intense competition in the EV two-wheeler space. As a result, its shares have been on a free fall over the last few months. The stock has fallen 36.84% in March so far and 45% year to date.

The post Ola Electric Shares Rebound 14% After Prolonged Decline appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Rosmerta Digital Services has filed a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against Ola Electric Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ola Electric Mobility, for allegedly defaulting on its payment obligations.

The petition, submitted before the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), has alleged a payment default for services rendered and seeks initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) proceedings against Ola Electric Technologies. 

“We wish to inform you that a petition has been filed under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) by M/s. Rosmerta Digital Services Limited, an Operational Creditor of Ola Electric Technologies Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ola Electric Mobility Limited…,” Ola Electric said in an exchange filing. 

Ola Electric Mobility said it disputes the claims and is taking legal advice to challenge the petition. “The company has sought appropriate legal advice and it strongly disputes the claims made. The company will take all necessary and appropriate steps to protect its interests and object to the allegations in the aforesaid matter,” the filing added. 

The development comes nearly a month after the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company said that it was renegotiating its agreement with its agencies Rosmerta Digital Services and Shimnit India. These renegotiations, the company said, would temporarily impact its vehicle registrations on the Centre’s Vahan portal.

While Rosmerta provides digital services for vehicle registrations, Shimnit manufactures high-security number plates.

Amid the renegotiations, Ola Electric Mobility saw registration of only 8,390 EVs on Vahan in February, a decline of over 65% month-on-month. However, the company claimed that it sold over 25,000 units last month.

Earlier this week, the EV company said it was in the final stages of revamping its vehicle registration process. This process was part of a cost-cutting exercise undertaken by the company amid rising losses. It said that the cost-cutting exercise has been completed and it is helping it reduce its cash burn by INR 90 Cr per month.

From rising losses and regulatory scrutiny to increasing competition and falling share price, Ola Electric Mobility has been fighting on multiple fronts for the last few months. Its net loss surged 50% year-on-year (YoY) and 14% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to INR 376 Cr in Q3 FY25. Revenue also slipped 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter.

As a result, the company’s stock has been on a downward spiral. After touching an all-time low at INR 50.31 on the BSE earlier this week, the stock closed at INR 50.54. This was over 30% below its IPO price of INR 76 per share.

The post Rosmerta Digital Services Files Insolvency Plea Against Ola Electric Subsidiary appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Clean energy startup Simple Energy has expanded its EV two-wheeler product line with the launch of its new electric scooter Simple OneS.

The electric scooter, priced at INR 1.40 Lakh, will offer an IDC (Indian delivery condition) range of 181 km, the company said in a statement.

Simple OneS will be available across all Simple Energy showrooms, including Bengaluru, Goa, Pune, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Vizag, Kochi and Mangaluru, among others.

“Our focus has always been on pushing the boundaries of technology to create smarter solutions, and the scooter is a testament to that,” said Simple Energy founder Suhas Rajkumar.

The newly launched scooter has several features, including 5G e-SIM, Wi-Fi, bluetooth connectivity, along with a touch screen dashboard. Additionally, it also offers options like find my vehicle, tire pressure monitoring system and park assist function, the statement added. 

Meanwhile, the company also said that with this launch it will now discontinue its EV scooter Simple Dot One.

Currently, Simple Energy’s product portfolio includes two vehicles – Simple One Gen 1.5 and Simple OneS.

Founded by Rajkumar, Ankit Gupta, and Shreshth Mishra in 2019, Simple Energy is a Bengaluru-based EV two-wheeler startup. 

It competes against Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Bajaj and Hero MotorCorp’s Vida in the EV two-wheeler segment. 

In July 2024, Simple Energy raised $20 Mn in a Series A funding round to expand its footprint across India and facilitate new product development.

Amid the rapid EV adoption in the country, the two-wheeler EV segment is getting a lot of traction and witnessing growing competition.

As per the Vahan data, total electric two-wheeler registrations in India surged nearly 24% month-on-month (MoM) to 91,264 units in January. In the month under review, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric reclaimed its top position, after losing the spot to Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor in December 2024.

However, the registrations slipped 27% to hit a 10-month low of 71,847 units in February. During this month, Bajaj Auto again surpassed Ola Electric to claim the top position. 

Besides, the two-wheeler EV market is also witnessing the entry of new players. Last week, High-end ebike maker Ultraviolette Automotive forayed into this space with the launch of its first electric scooter ‘Tesseract’. 

In November 2024, Japanese automobile giant Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) also entered the segment with the launch of its two electric scooters – Activa E and QC1. Besides, the company is also mulling to build a dedicated electric motorcycle production plant in India by 2028. 

In 2024, total EV registrations in the country rose 30% year-on-year (YoY) to almost touch the 20 Lakh mark, with electric two-wheeler registrations zooming 33% YoY to 11.4 Lakh.

The post Simple Energy Expands EV Two-Wheeler Portfolio With Simple OneS appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy is reportedly eyeing a valuation of $1.6 Bn for its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO). 

According to a report by Bloomberg, the startup is eyeing a public listing within this month or April. A separate report by NDTV Profit said that the company is likely to file its updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) by next week. 

Ather declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development. 

This adds on to recent developments at Ather that indicate that the company is in the final stages of preparations to launch its public offering. A couple of days ago, it was reported that the unicorn converted its outstanding compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) into equity shares.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned valuation which Ather is seeking is almost equivalent to last private valuation of $1.3 Bn. Ather entered the unicorn club by securing a funding of INR 600 Cr ($71 Mn) from NIIF at a post-money valuation of $1.3 Bn in August last year.

However, earlier in January, Ather was reported to be chasing a valuation of $2.4 Bn for its IPO.  

Interestingly, Ola Electric also took a valuation cut when it went public in August 2024. The two-wheeler EV manufacturer listed at a valuation of $4 Bn, down about 26% from its last private valuation of $5.4 Bn. With the recent slump in its share price, Ola Electric’s market capitalisation has plunged to $2.6 Bn as of today. 

It is pertinent to mention that Ather filed its DRHP with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise over INR 3,100 Cr a month after its last private fund raise.

As per the DRHP, the IPO will comprise a fresh issue of equity shares worth INR 3,100 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 2.2 Cr equity shares.

The markets regulator greenlit the IPO in December last year. 

While there have been much speculations over the company’s public listing, Ather’s two-wheeler sales have been on a steady uptick in recent times. In February, the IPO-bound company’s EV registrations stood at 13,055 units, up slightly from 12,101 units in January. 

[Editor’s Note: The story has been edited to update the valuation of Ather based on changes in the original Bloomberg report.]

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Update | March 11, 4:30 PM 

Shares of Ola Electric ended the day’s trading 5.37% lower at INR 50.91 on the BSE.

Original | March 11, 12:53 PM

Shares of Ola Electric fell for the third straight session on Tuesday (March 11), dipping as much as 5.5% to reach an all-time low at INR 50.81 on the BSE.

At 11:52 AM, the stock was trading at INR 51.41, down 4.4% from the previous close of INR 53.80. Ola Electric’s market capitalisation stood at INR 22,693.72 Cr. 

The stock has been on a downward trajectory for some time and has given a negative return of 7.3% and 24% in the last 5 days and month, respectively. 

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup went public in August last year, listing on the BSE at INR 75.99 as against the issue price of INR 76. However, the stock jumped over the next few months and reached its all-time high at INR 157.53.

At the current price, Ola Electric shares are trading about 30% lower than the IPO price.

Besides the decline in the broader market over the last few months, the EV major has also been impacted by regulatory issues, rising losses, and increasing competition in the two-wheeler EV segment.

While the company has been under the scrutiny of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for complaints about its after-sales services, it was recently fined by the heavy industries ministry for failing to meet its commitments under the PLI scheme for advanced chemistry cells.

On the financial front, its consolidated net loss ballooned over 50% to INR 564 Cr in the December quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 376 Cr in the year-ago quarter, hurt by lower revenue due to rising competition in the electric two-wheeler segment. 

Operating revenue declined  19% to INR 1,045 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,296 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

In the recent past, Ola Electric has taken a number of measures to cut costs, including lay offs 

Besides, the company was also said to be looking to deploy an in-house team to cut its vehicle registration cost.

Meanwhile, Ola Electric founder and CEO recently pledged an additional 5.88 Cr shares of the company to raise debt for the AI unicorn Krutrim. 

The heating competition in the electric two-wheeler (E2W) segment has also contributed to Ola Electric’s increasing losses and falling shares. 

As per Vahan data, Ola Electric has lost its leading position in India’s E2W market to legacy automotive player Bajaj Auto yet again in February. Ola Electric claimed that the sales number for the month stood at over 25,000 units.

The post Ola Electric Hits Fresh All-Time Low At INR 50.81 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Going full throttle on its highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy has converted its outstanding compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) into equity shares.

As per regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, the company’s board passed a resolution on March 8 to convert 1.73 Lakh outstanding CCPS into 24 Cr fully paid up equity shares.

The equity shares, having a face value of INR 1 each, will rank pari-passu with the existing equity shares of the company.

The resultant equity shares will be allotted to shareholders including Hero MotoCorp Limited, Internet Fund III, Caladium Investment Pte Ltd, Innoven Capital India Fund, among others.

It is pertinent to note that SEBI regulations require all CCPS to be converted into equity shares before filing the red herring prospectus (RHP) for an IPO. 

The move comes two months after the markets regulator greenlit Ather’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for INR 3,100 Cr+ IPO. The EV company is expected to float its IPO by April, PTI reported, citing merchant banking sources.

The proposed public issue will comprise a fresh issuance of shares worth INR 3,100 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.2 Cr shares. 

Tiger Global, Caladium Investments, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Binny Bansal’s 3 State Ventures, and cofounders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain will offload their stakes via the OFS. However, Ather’s biggest shareholder, auto giant Hero MotoCorp with a 37.2% stake, will not participate in the OFS component. 

Ather was reportedly targeting a valuation of around $2.5 Bn for its IPO. Ather plans to use the fresh proceeds from the public issue to shore up R&D, marketing initiatives, infrastructure, production initiative and general corporate purposes.

As per its DRHP, Ather plans to raise INR 620 Cr through a pre-IPO placement. 

Ather’s public listing, when it transpires, will be the second by an electric mobility company in the country after Ola Electric. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company made its public market debut in August last year. Its 6,145 Cr+ IPO was one of the largest in 2024. 

Greaves Electric Mobility, which sells its escooters under the Ampere brand, is also preparing to knock at the doors of Dalal Street. The EV maker filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for INR 1,000 Cr+ IPO in December 2024. 

Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based electric vehicle maker Pure EV has converted into a public company ahead of its potential IPO this year.

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