Ola’s sales figure mismatch: Government orders probe

While the total number of registrations by Bhavish Aggarwal-owned Ola Electric on Vahan portal for February stood at 8,652, the company reported sales of over 25,000 units during the period

New Delhi: The Heavy Industries Ministry has directed Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to probe the mismatch between Ola Electric’s reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations along with numerous consumer complaints against the Bhavish Aggarwal-owned electric two-wheeler maker and submit a report within 15 days, sources said.

While the total number of registrations by Ola Electric on the Vahan portal for February stood at 8,652, the company reported sales of over 25,000 units during the period.

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As of March 20, the company’s registrations stood at 11,781 on the Vahan portal. Ola Electric is a beneficiary of the FAME II and PM E-DRIVE schemes and its eligibility certificate has been provided by ARAI, a certification and testing agency under the administrative control of the Ministry.

“It is the responsibility of ARAI to ensure that the guidelines of the PM E-DRIVE Scheme are followed. The ARAI will probe the sales figures mismatch and also the consumer complaints against Ola Electric. We have told ARAI to submit a report within 15 days,” officials said, requesting anonymity.

Consumer complaints

Ola Electric has been facing regulatory heat with multiple authorities, including consumer rights regulator CCPA, ordering probes into complaints related to alleged “deficiencies” in services and electric two-wheelers manufactured by the company.

When contacted, Ola Electric declined to comment. However, sources said, due to negotiations with registration agencies, Vahan numbers for February have been temporarily impacted and the same was informed to the stock exchanges on February 19.

“The company’s registration process is now back on track and daily registrations of around 1,500 are almost double of the average daily sales of around 800. With this process in place, the company has fast-tracked the clearance of the registration backlog,” a source said.

Ola expects to register all the vehicles sold in February within March itself, the source said, adding that vehicles sold in the last week of March may have a registration spill-over in the first week of April 2025.

Last week, Ola Electric Mobility Ltd had said its vehicle registration service provider Rosmerta Digital Services Ltd had sought initiation of insolvency proceedings against its wholly owned arm Ola Electric Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Rosmerta Digital Services had submitted a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal – Bengaluru Bench, alleging default in payment towards the services rendered by the operational creditor and seeking initiation of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Ola Electric Technologies Pvt Ltd.

In February, Ola Electric Mobility stated that it was renegotiating the terms of agreement with its agencies, Rosmerta Digital Services Pvt Ltd and Shimnit India Pvt Ltd, to reduce cost and enhance registration process efficiencies. The company had stated that it would have a temporary impact on its Vahan registration.

Later, the company stated that its vehicle registration process transformation is in its final stages and its daily registrations have improved significantly, increasing to over 800 per day and crossing the average daily sales for January 2025 and February 2025.

The insolvency proceedings come at a time when Ola Electric Mobility is cutting around 1,000 jobs across different functions as part of a restructuring exercise to reduce losses.