Consumers in India are ready to transition to electric vehicles, says Ola CEO
India’s ride-hailing firm Ola has plans to go public next year — but, a final date for the initial public offering has yet to be decided, chairman and group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal told CNBC.
He said both Ola and Ola Electric — the company’s electric-vehicle arm — have adequate capital and strong balance sheets.
“We have not publicly announced any IPO plans as of now,” he said Friday on “Street Signs Asia.”
“But, both companies in due course will go public. Ola will obviously go public sooner, it’s a more mature business — sometime next year, but we don’t have any final, final date to share with everybody,” Aggarwal added.
Last month, Ola announced that Plum Wood Investment, an affiliate of global private equity firm Warburg Pincus, and Singapore state investor Temasek were planning to invest $500 million into the company ahead of its IPO.
But the ride-hailing firm, which is also backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, did not disclose any details about its planned float.
Indian media reported that a clutch of existing Ola investors, including investment firm Tiger Global, sold their shares to Warburg Pincus and Temasek. India’s anti-monopoly watchdog this month said it approved those transactions.
“Our investors are very, very strongly backing us in our journey,” Aggarwal “They’re very happy with the progress our businesses are making. And they continue to be very excited about our vision and our progress towards that vision.”
Most of Ola’s operations are in India, but the company’s ride-hailing services are also available in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
Can electric vehicles go mainstream?
Ola is also making inroads into India’s push for battery-powered vehicles through Ola Electric.
On Sunday, the company launched two electric scooters that will reportedly be on sale from September. Aggarwal said there are plans to launch electric motorcycles and an electric car in the next few years.
Ola is part of a growing list of Indian tech start-ups that are planning to go public.
Food delivery firm Zomato made its stock market debut last month, payments giant Paytm filed for a $2.2 billion float, and reports say e-commerce giant Flipkart is also exploring listing options.
