Has Ola Electric Turned The Corner?
After months of sputtering in neutral, Ola Electric seems to have found its ignition key again — the bulls are now driving the stock. On the back of a positive auto industry sentiment and the PLI scheme boost, it touched a seven-month high at INR 69 last week.
But the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company’s growth story always has a catch. Following a dramatic rise earlier in the week, Ola Electric shares nosedived again to settle at around INR 60 as investors started booking profits and none other than SoftBank offloaded a part of its stake in the EV company.
What exactly is happening at Ola Electric these days?
After a largely negative June quarter results, how did the EV poster boy start garnering back the attention of the public market investors? After all, accounting for the 13% slump in its shares in the last two sessions, Ola still witnessed a 33% jump in two weeks.
Well, the experts say, it’s once again the magic of its announcements, plus some policy push. The market is quite upbeat about its indigenously developed 4680 battery cell, the rare-earth-free motors, and the company’s Gen3 scooter lineup getting the certification for the PLI scheme.
Besides, we shouldn’t overlook that the BSE Auto index was also up over 5% last week amid GST rationalisation — EVs retained 5% GST rate and GST on ICE two-wheelers up to 350cc, small passenger cars got a rate cut to 18% from 28%. Ahead of the festive season, the new GST rates were a respite for the electric and ICE auto sectors alike.
But before looking at the macroeconomic factors, let’s take a few steps back.
What Has Changed Lately For Ola Electric?
On August 15, which has been a happening day for Ola Electric over the past few years with its flagship annual event Sankalp, the company dropped a new electric scooter model – S1 Pro Sport. A big highlight of the new model was that it would be equipped with ferrite magnet motors and the 4680 battery cells — both developed in-house.
Why are these two big promises? It shows that while the auto industry has been sweating over India’s rare earth magnet crunch, Ola Electric has already taken a step ahead.
Sure, the company did announce earlier this year as well that a rare-earth-free motor was in the making, but let’s be honest, at this point, D-Street doesn’t want more “announcements,”© Inc42
