Start-ups don't care that mad-money funding comes to a hard stop after an IPO, observes Debashis Basu. As a listed entity, corporate actions have to take the interests of all shareholders, especially minority shareholders, into account. So far, we are not seeing any sign of it, observes Debashis Basu.
More than 30 technology startups, collectively valued at $100 billion, are poised to go public by 2027, signalling a potential rebound in India's stock market activity, according to a report by investment bank The Rainmaker Group. Walmart-owned Flipkart, financial technology (fintech) leader PhonePe, SoftBank-backed Lenskart, Razorpay, Zetwerk, and Meesho are among the top companies preparing to go public in India.
Even though electric two wheeler (e2W) companies saw a slight recovery in July of 12 per cent with 49,518 registrations - after a wash out in June because the government slashed the FAME 2 subsidy by a third - registrations are still lower for the second month in a row compared to April FY24. The slow pace has raised doubts about whether the registrations will reach anywhere near either Niti Aayog's ambitious target of 2.4 million vehicles in FY24 or whether they will be closer to the trimmed down industry expectation of around one million. In June, e2W registrations plunged to a mere 44,253, the worst month in more than a year, as companies hiked scooter prices.
As a tech services company, Ola has never been in hardcore manufacturing. And unlike in ride hailing, which is a two-player market (Uber is the only other competitor), in two-wheelers it faces many entrenched players. But most of all, rivals say Ola's targets are out of sync with most, even ambitious, projections.
The country's legacy two-wheeler giants - Bajaj Auto and TVS - are fighting a neck-and-neck battle for market share, with the former threatening to dislodging its rival soon. The Pune-based giant, which was trailing far behind TVS just two months ago in e-two-wheelers (e2Ws), has upped the ante. It has increased its market share based on Vahan registrations from 11.6 per cent in June (when it sold only 9,046 electric two wheelers) to 19.3 per cent (when it sold 14,977 this month till August 30).
IPO-bound mobility platform Ola, said it has successfully raised $500 million via a Term Loan B (TLB) from marquee international institutional investors. This term loan has no impact on the valuation of Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola. The Bengaluru-based firm recently raised $139 million. This is part of a $1 billion funding round for which the company is in talks with investors, increasing its valuation to about $7.5 billion, according to the sources.
Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Thursday said Ola Electric sold scooters worth over Rs 600 crore on the first day of the sale of its model S1. The executive noted that the company will shut the purchasing process from Thursday midnight. Ola Electric had on Wednesday commenced the sale process of its electric scooter, which comes in two trims - Ola S1 and S1 Pro.
Stung by the government's punitive action on electric two-wheelers, registrations in April fell by nearly a fourth to 62,581 from 82,292 in March, according to data from VAHAN. Electric two-wheeler companies, including Okinawa, Hero Electric, Ather Energy, and TVS, have all clocked their lowest registrations in the four months of this calendar year. Ola Electric has been the only exception to this bloodbath, and has crossed its March numbers, hitting 21,560 registrations in April, which is its highest in this calendar year. As a result, there have been some interesting changes in the electric two-wheeler pecking order.
Leading Indian electric two-wheeler (e2W) companies have said that "swapping" of batteries is currently unviable and will only increase the cost for a consumer to run the vehicle.
Electric two-wheeler (e2W) maker Ather Energy has submitted preliminary papers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO). According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), the IPO will comprise a fresh issue of equity shares valued at Rs 3,100 crore, alongside an offer for sale of 22 million equity shares by its promoters and investor shareholders.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of ride-hailing firm Ola who disrupted the electric scooters market in the country, is planning to launch an electric sports car in 2024. The plan will put it in competition with Indian players, such as the Tata group and Mahindra & Mahindra, and global giants like Tesla and Hyundai. Aggarwal, recently, took a group of reporters to the firm's design studio at the Ola campus in Bengaluru where his teams are working on several EVs, including scooters, motorcycles, sedans, and SUVs - and even robotaxis.
SoftBank-backed Ola Electric took the wraps off its maiden e-scooter offerings -- Ola S1 and S1 Pro -- for a commercial launch on Sunday. With prices starting from Rs 99,999 (excluding state government incentives, registration fee, and insurance cost), the Bhavesh Aggarwal-founded firm said the e-scooters are designed and engineered in India for the world and will deliver the best scooter experience to the consumer. He suggested that after 2025, sale of petrol-powered two-wheelers should not be allowed.
Ola Electric on Thursday said it will bring its electric scooter to the Indian market in July this year, and is working on setting up a 'Hypercharger Network' to include one lakh charging points across 400 cities. Last year, Ola had announced a Rs 2,400 crore investment for setting up its first electric scooter factory in Tamil Nadu. Upon completion, the factory will create nearly 10,000 jobs and will be the world's largest scooter manufacturing facility that will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units.
From Tetley Tea to Jaguar Land Rover and Air India, Ratan Tata has ticked off almost every item on his bucket list. However, one that remains unfinished is the electric version of his small car, the Tata Nano. A concept entrusted to Coimbatore-based Jayem Automotives (Jayem Auto) is still on the shelves, despite nearly 400 cars being launched, primarily due to Covid-19 and new crash norms.
Even as India overtakes Japan in automotive sales in 2022, moving to third place for the first time, oddly enough the country's biggest motor show is going to see some big hitters give it a clear miss. Some prominent automotive brands have cited high event costs, negligible returns on investment, poor event management, and unfavourable location as reasons for their reluctance to participate. Major pure-play electric two-wheelers, too, are riding past this year's edition of the Auto Expo.
RIL subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar, Ola Electric, Hyundai Global Motors Company and Rajesh Exports have been approved for receiving incentives under the Rs 18,100 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for battery manufacturing in India, sources said on Thursday. "The ministry had received bids from 10 companies with a capacity of 130 GWh. Reliance, Ola Electric, Hyundai and Rajesh Exports have qualified for ACC batteries," a source said. Other companies which had applied for the PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries were Lucas-TVS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Amara Raja Batteries, Exide Industries, Larsen & Toubro and India Power Corporation Limited.
Ola Electric became the latest among electric scooter (e-scooter) makers to have started the exercise of recalling a specific batch of its model after a rap on the knuckles by the government. Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday advised electric vehicle (EV) companies to act responsibly by identifying and recalling defective batches without waiting for orders or guidelines from the ministry. The Bengaluru-based start-up is conducting pre-emptive diagnostics and health check on 1,441 scooters, it said in a statement on Sunday.
Lithium-ion cells, primarily imported from China, are likely to become cheaper following punitive tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese battery cells.
The two-wheeler giant had only 14 per cent of the electric two-wheeler market in May this year, but its 26.8 per cent in December
Startups that became unicorns in 2024 took an average of nine years and six months to reach $1 billion valuation, reflecting the impact of a prolonged funding squeeze from PE/VC firms over the past few years.
The BSA Gold Star is launched....Ola Enters e-motorbikes Biz... Bajaj, TVS To Enter e2Ws Market...
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday forayed into the fast-growing domestic electric mobility market with the introduction of e-scooters, ACTIVA e: and QC1, with swappable and fixed batteries. With this, the Japanese two-wheeler maker will now be competing with other legacy players such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Group as well as pure EV players like Ather and Ola, who already have a good presence in the segment, which is growing at 34 per cent year-on-year.
By 2025, Uber projects that 25,000-30,000 cars -- or 12 to 16 per cent of vehicle additions -- would be EVs, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
'Price competition is fierce, with many companies selling at zero margin.' 'This pricing pressure is challenging smaller companies and will likely drive some out of the market over time.'
Mobility company Ola's chief financial officer Swayam Saurabh and chief operating officer Gaurav Porwal are leaving the company. These developments come at a time when the SoftBank-backed company's core ride-hailing unit is planning to go public and for which it raised $500 million from Warburg Pincus and Temasek in July this year. These investment firms had partnered with the company founder Bhavish Aggarwal for this round.
'Son believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating IP that will be uniquely Indian.'
On average, stocks that debuted last year are down 37 per cent from their peak levels.
In light of the recent incidents involving scooters from prominent electric mobility brands bursting into flames, the subject of electric vehicle (EV) safety has come under the spotlight. As many as 20 electric scooters of Nashik-based Jitendra EV Tech caught fire after being loaded on a transport container. While no one has been reported injured, the company said it is conducting an investigation to find the 'root cause' of the fire.
The state is also the biggest market for TVS, another incumbent player, and together with Bajaj Auto, they accounted for 88 per cent of Maharashtra's total electric scooter sales last month. As many as 8,417 units were sold in Maharashtra in September. Bajaj Auto's contribution was 4,048 vehicles and that of TVS was 3,389, according to model- and state-wise data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).
For investors who missed the initial IPO frenzy, the market correction is an opportunity to selectively invest in promising names, but patience and careful evaluation remain the key.
Four companies - Rajesh Exports, Hyundai Global Motors Company, Ola Electric Mobility and Reliance New Energy - are eligible for receiving benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell battery storage, the heavy industries ministry said on Thursday. The allotment was made for a total of 50 GWh of battery capacity to the four successful bidders. These firms, the ministry said, will receive incentives under India's Rs 18,100 crore programme to boost local battery cell production.
With just a month left in this financial year, electric two-wheeler sales, so far, are at just 62 per cent of the ambitious target of 1 million units set for 2022-23 by the NITI Aayog. According to VAHAN data, compiled by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), 620,006 units of electric two-wheelers were sold across the country in FY23 until February 21. Though the industry may miss the 1-million target, sales in FY23 are already up 146 per cent from 249,621 units sold in FY22.
Nearly a decade ago, the first fully electric vehicle (EV) caught fire on the road in the US. It was a model from Tesla, the world's most admired EV maker. A metal fragment punctured the underbelly of the vehicle, penetrating its battery pack, leading to a fire. Indian lawmakers and automakers have had nine years to study the incident (in fact, three Tesla Model Ss caught fire in two months in 2013) but seem to have learnt little.
With a million-odd electric vehicles (EVs) - two-wheelers, e-rickshaws, buses and passenger cars - expected to hit the road this calendar year, the shift from gasoline-powered vehicles has become irreversible. Now the question is whether the supply chain is ready for this shift. Key components - the high-powered lithium-ion battery and the cells which go with it, the electric motor, and the electronics powered by chips - account for nearly 60 per cent of the cost of an EV.
Bajaj Auto has virtually closed the gap with Ather Energy in September, notching up 6423 EV registrations compared to 6466 registrations by Ather.
From the Sensex pack, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.
Ola Electric will roll out its complete offering of electric scooters and motorcycles in each segment of the market - premium, mass premium, and economical - in the next 12 months in a bid to push for a near-full conversion of the two-wheeler market to electric in three years. According to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, "ICE (internal combustion engine) products will fall off a cliff." He also says the company is aiming to become profitable next year.
'Today, we have 2 million active drivers earning through our platform every month.'
In the hottest sector of AI, where most global VC funding is going currently, the country's record has not been anything to write home about.
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