Ola Electric Founder Offloads Shares to Repay INR 260 Crore Debt

On Tuesday, ola Electric’s Bhavish Aggarwal sold 2.6 crore shares of the company in a bulk deal, earning ₹91 crore, according to exchange data. The company said the sale was made to help repay a promoter-level loan.

The shares sold represented about 0.6% of the company and were sold at an average price of ₹34.99 each. As of September, Bhavish Aggarwal still held a 30.02% stake in Ola Electric, according to exchange data.

The company said the ₹260 crore loan, for which Aggarwal had pledged 3.93% of his Ola Electric shares, will be repaid. This will free up the pledged shares.

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After the transaction, the promoter group will still hold about 34% of the Roadster maker, maintaining their control over the company.

“This action is taken to eliminate all promoter pledges, which can introduce avoidable risk and volatility. It is part of the founder's conviction that Ola Electric should operate with zero pledge overhang, and he should fully unwind the leverage,” the statement said.

Aggarwal had previously pledged Ola Electric shares several times to raise funds for his artificial intelligence venture, Krutrim. Recently, the AI company has faced layoffs and the departure of several senior executives.

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The share sale comes at a challenging time for Ola Electric. Its shares hit a 52-week low of ₹33.17 on December 12 and closed at ₹34.50 on Tuesday, down 7.7%.

The company is also struggling to regain momentum in the electric two-wheeler market. In November, Ola Electric sold just 7,567 units, its lowest in three years, capturing only 7.2% of the EV market.

This has affected revenue growth as well. For the quarter ending September 30, the company reported a 43.1% drop in revenue, down to ₹690 crore from ₹1,214 crore in the same period last year.

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