Ola says backlog will be cleared in April, without revealing sales figures for March

New Delhi: Ola Electric Mobility Ltd has not disclosed its monthly sales data for the first time after registering a new vehicle for up to a month.

The Bangalore-based electric scooter maker cited data about the government’s Vahan portal and reported 23,450 new vehicle registrations in March. Portal record registration instead of company shipment.

A month ago, Ola said the Vahan portal was unable to accurately record sales due to problems during the company registration process.

“As mentioned earlier, the shift to internal vehicle registrations in February has led to temporary disruption. Although the transition continues, daily registrations and backlog removals are steadily improving.”

In February, the Vahan portal showed Ola Electric’s new vehicles registered at 8,653.

Bangalore-based Ola Electric said on February 19 that contracts with third-party registration agencies Rosmerta Technologies Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd will be renegotiated, resulting in a slowdown. Rosmerta Group even brought Ola to the National Corporate Court, pending payment ₹260 million. The agency later withdrew the case after Ola Electric paid all dues.

According to Ola, the disruption created a massive backlog of registrations with more than 16,000 cars, which the company claims will reflect the Vahan portal in the coming weeks.

Due to the backlog, the delivery time of the vehicle has increased to more than 20-45 days. Mint Discovered during inquiries on several company-owned stores. However, OLA claims that the average delivery time has been reduced from 12 days to 3-4 days.

Ola Electric informed the stock exchange on Tuesday that the backlog had been “almost cleared” and the company hopes to complete the remaining February to March 2025 registrations. “To support this, we are expanding our registration operations and actively coordinating with all external stakeholders.”

Earlier, the agencies processed the registration process, entered customer details about the government portal, and printed generated numbers on the digital board. A company that realized the development said that after the contract with the institution ended, Ora hired 200 people to assist in the registration process.

However, March figures indicate that the backlog has not been completely cleared. It is not clear how many cars were actually sold in March, except for the number of scooters it sells, but it is not possible to register within a month.

The company has registered only about 6,000 new cars out of a 16,000 backlog, dragging the manufacturer of the S1 series electric scooter to third place in market share.

The query sent to Ola Electric by email did not respond.

Bajaj Auto, TVS Contest Future

Traditional automakers such as Bajaj Auto Ltd and TVS Motors Ltd recorded growth in the new registration month in March and surpassed Ola Electric, which claimed the highest market share in February, with more than 25,000 units sold.

In March, Bajaj Auto won the electric two-wheeler market with 34,863 new registrations, up nearly 62% from 21,537 last month. Similarly, Hosur-based TVS Motors Ltd recorded 30,454 new registrations, a monthly increase of 61%.

India’s overall electric vehicle market ended its fiscal 25 with a positive attitude, with registrations for new vehicles rising 16.86% to 1.96 million units compared to 1.68 million units the previous year.

Ola’s dent in fiscal 25th fiscal year revenue

Ola Electric’s registration dilemma in February and March could flood the company’s revenue for fiscal 25 years.

Since the company has not disclosed its monthly sales or new vehicle registrations (excluding the backlog of last month), it is impossible to determine the revenue or incentives the company must waive in FY25.

The company’s draft Red Herring Prospectus says it acknowledges revenue “after transferring control of the promised product or service.”

It is unclear whether the company will book revenue from sales of unregistered vehicles, as ownership has not been transferred to customers.

Mint It was also reported on March 19 that if Ola Electric is not aware of its vehicle registration backlog, Ola Electric may lose its government incentives due to government incentives. Under the plan, manufacturers sell electric vehicles to consumers at subsidized prices, and the government reimburses the difference to manufacturers.

Read also | Ola Electric’s scooter delivery hits when it aims to cut costs for registered companies

But the benefit of this plan is its gradually reduced subsidies. this ₹1.090 billion spreads over FY25 and FY26, incentives cut in half ₹10,000 per electric two-wheeler ₹5,000 per unit in fiscal 26 years.

Ola Electric vehicles for sale in FY25 are eligible ₹10,000 subsidy. But since they will be registered in April, Ola Electric can only apply for these subsidies in FY26 ₹5,000 per vehicle.

Ola Electric’s shares have fallen nearly 13% since they started facing registration issues, while the BSE Auto Index has fallen by 9%.

The number of registrations remains far from 50,000 targets Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal aims to achieve profitability. The company reported ₹5.64 million losses in the October-December quarter ₹3.76 million in the same period last year.

“The company will have to solve its technical problems at a sustainable pace and increase the number as these problems will keep investors’ emotions hurt,” said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of Mumbai-based brokerage firm Profermart. “It is not clear when the company will be profitable and investors will remain cautious in losing businesses. It is a waiting situation to see when they can solve all the problems.”