Can Ola Electric Stop The Drop?

At an event before the Ola Electric IPO in August last year, the company’s founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal banked on one central theme to take the EV maker to profitability –  high sales volumes that will drive higher revenue and lower costs at scale.

So far, neither of these has come to fruition. The EV maker’s numbers for the December quarter make for bleak reading with losses growing 50% from Q2 to INR 564 Cr. Operating revenue fell by 19% to INR 1,069 Cr as the company lost market share to new-age rivals and legacy OEMs.

On the profitability side, the widening EBITDA losses should be even more worrying for those eyeing Ola Electric for their portfolio. EBITDA loss grew to -40.7% from -19.5% — Ola’s investments for its service network expansion in the quarter resulted in worse profitability.

This is reflected in the slump in the share price of Ola Electric since the beginning of the year. Since January 1, 2025, the stock price has fallen by over 30%. In the past two weeks, Ola Electric has twice hit the all-time low, and is now trading at INR 56.85, down 64% from the all-time high, and 25% below listing price.

The company’s current market cap is INR 25,075 Cr (around $2.9 Bn at current exchange rates), whereas when it listed, this was close to $4 Bn. The value erosion at Ola Electric is reminiscent of the big slide seen by Paytm and Zomato soon after listing.

Ola Electric In Rejig Mode

And the sales or registration data does not make for great reading thus far this year, especially when one accounts for the fact that Ola Electric expects a slowdown in sales and registrations in the short term.

In January 2025, Ola Electric had 22,656 units registered with the Vahan database, up from 13,794 units in the preceding month. This gave it the top spot in terms of sales among OEMs. It was also around this time that Bhavish Aggarwal claimed the company is close to achieving 50,000 sales per month.

But in February, Ola Electric lost its top spot to legacy automotive player Bajaj Auto. Overall, two-wheeler EV plummeted 27% to hit a 10-month low of 71,847 units in February as compared to 98,246 units in January 2025.

Vahan data shows that Ola Electric only registered around 8K units in February, however, in a statement on February 28, Ola Electric claimed that it sold over 25,000 units in February and remained a leader in the E2W segment with a market share of 28%.

Earlier, the company had forewarned about lower sales data in February as it was renegotiating contracts with agencies responsible for EV registration. This could explain the discrepancy between Vahan data and what Ola is claiming. The real picture will become clear once the contracts are finalised.

As for improving profitability, the company is reported to have shut all its regional warehouses across India. The EV maker now plans to leverage its 4,000 retail stores across the country to maintain vehicle inventory, spare parts, accessories, and last-mile deliveries.

As per a PTI report, the move is expected to boost Ola Electric’s EBITDA margins by almost 10 percentage points, “improve” inventory management and enable faster customer deliveries.

Besides this, the EV major also expects to rake in roughly INR 30 Cr in monthly savings from this “redesigned” distribution network and new plans to optimise vehicle registration process. It’s pertinent to note that the company has not corroborated this report with a disclosure.

Any further clarification on the cost front could be a spur for investors. Market expert Arun Kejriwal believes that Ola Electric has suffered as a result of being in a selling spree.

“The company is getting its act together, hoping to turn profitable faster than earlier. It can be an attractive stock to look at in the longer run when the market has bottomed out,” he added.

Perhaps the only silver lining as for the stock price is that its 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 23.96, which is typically classified as oversold. A turnaround could very well be on the cards, and all that Bhavish Aggarwal needs to do is exactly what he said last August.

Stock In Focus: Swiggy

After the high of listing, Swiggy has not exactly set the right pace in terms of revenue or market share momentum, which has dented the stock to some degree.

Even though it fell by just over 5% this past week, the big worry is that this is the beginning of a larger slide. In the past one month, Swiggy has gone from INR 458.30 to INR 334.70 — a fall of 27%. 

The bearish conditions in the broader market may be masking some of the weakness in Swiggy’s stock. A lot will depend on how Swiggy reacts to Zomato infusing INR 1,500 Cr in Blinkit last week, and what kind of growth Instamart shows in the final quarter of FY25.

Despite falling in the week, Swiggy was not among the worst performing new-age tech stocks. TBO Tek broke its streak of gains falling nearly 20% between Monday and Friday. MobiKwik, Yatra and Fino were among the other top losers.

In terms of gains, only BlackBuck and Zaggle showed some upward movement rising by 2.23% and 2.22% respectively compared to their opening price on Monday.

CEO Speak: Zappfresh Set For Debut

Zappfresh filed its draft papers in August last year, but SEBI’s new rules for SME listings caused certain delays in its path to a public listing. In a conversation with Inc42, Founder and CEO Deepanshu Manchanda expressed certainty that in FY26, Zappfresh will become India’s first profitable meat delivery startup to list.

“After the regulatory approvals are in, we would look at listing as and when we see the markets being right. Currently, the markets are volatile and different sentiments occur in different intervals,” he added.

IPO Watch

• boAt’s IPO Dreams Back On Track? Consumer electronics major boAt has got its board green light to proceed with its initial public offering The company’s board has cleared changes in its articles of association (AoA), clearing the path for an IPO, as per regulatory filings
• PhonePe Nudges IPO Pieces Ahead: Fintech giant PhonePe has reportedly picked four investment banks — Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley — to advise on its upcoming IPO, aiming for a valuation of up to $15 Bn. The IPO is likely to be a combination of primary and secondary issuance of shares, with a listing in FY26