Agarwal told Reuters Next Conference that Ola, backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, is also gearing up to build a “super app,” with plans to broaden its services beyond mobility to include personal finance and micro-insurance. Is.
Agarwal, who founded the company in 2010, said, “We are not a company that takes a short-term view on anything. Markets can be volatile in the short term, but that never informed our decisions. ”
Indian companies have raised $9.7 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first nine months of 2021, according to accountant EY, but Indian digital payments firm Paytm’s disappointing stock market debut last month raised concerns among some bankers. Done.
Ola, which has a majority of India’s ride-hailing market, where it competes with Uber Technologies, plans to raise up to $1 billion through an IPO.
While Ola’s financials have improved in recent months, Agarwal said the company is working to improve them after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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“Our vision for the Ola business is to be a large, broad-based mobility platform,” said Agarwal, adding that the Ola app already enables its 150 million customers to buy and sell new and used cars and provide vehicle finance and insurance. Allows you to take advantage.
He said he would like to expand the offerings and plans to leverage the customer base to offer personal finance services and micro insurance by moving towards a super app.
EV Ambition
Agarwal also plans to list Ola’s separate electric vehicle business in the future, and is currently starting it with its electric scooter, for which it has received 10 lakh reservations, he said.
It plans to launch an electric car in 2023 and is looking at setting up local battery cell manufacturing.
The company has come under criticism for the delay in delivery of the scooter, but Agarwal said it was due to global semiconductor shortage and the first deliveries were on track on December 15.
“Our ambition in electrification is to make India a global electric vehicle hub,” he said.
Aggarwal said that while companies like Tesla are leading the way in manufacturing vehicles more suitable for western markets, India could be a leader in small cars, scooters and motorbikes, which have high global demand.