Ola, an Indian ride-hailing business, said on Thursday that it wants to go public in the first half of 2022, despite recent market turbulence and the dismal listing of several start-ups in the country, said the company’s Chief Executive Officer Bhavish Aggarwal on Thursday.
Ola, backed by SoftBank Group of Japan, is also preparing to become a "super app," with ambitions to expand its services beyond mobility to include personal banking and microinsurance, according to Aggarwal at the Reuters Next conference.
"We are not a company that takes a short-term view on anything. Short-term, there might be volatilities in the market but that has never informed our decisions," said Aggarwal, who founded the company in 2010.
According to accountants EY, Indian firms collected $9.7 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first nine months of 2021, but the disastrous stock market debut of Indian digital payments giant Paytm (PAYT.NS) this month has some bankers concerned.
Ola, which competes with Uber Technologies for a majority share of India's ride-hailing business, aims to raise up to $1 billion through an IPO.
Despite the fact that Ola's finances have improved in recent months, Aggarwal said the business is aiming to improve them even more following the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Our vision for the Ola business is to be a large, broad-based mobility platform," Aggarwal said, adding that the Ola app already allows its 150 million customers to buy and sell new and used cars, and avail vehicle finance and insurance.
He stated that he intended to broaden the offering and that he intends to use the client base to offer personal finance services and microinsurance, eventually transforming the app into a super app.
Ola's separate electric vehicle company, which Aggarwal hopes to IPO in the future, is now being built up, starting with its electric scooters, for which it has had 1 million bookings, he added.
It intends to introduce an electric vehicle in 2023 and is considering establishing local battery cell production.
The firm has been chastised for delays in scooter delivery, but Aggarwal claims that these are due to a global semiconductor shortage, and that initial deliveries are scheduled for December 15.
"Our ambitions in electrification are to make India the global electric vehicle hub," he said.
While businesses like Tesla are leading the way in developing vehicles appropriate for Western markets, Aggarwal believes India can dominate in the field of tiny cars, scooters, and motorcycles, which have a higher worldwide demand.
(Source:www.businesstoday.in)
Ola, backed by SoftBank Group of Japan, is also preparing to become a "super app," with ambitions to expand its services beyond mobility to include personal banking and microinsurance, according to Aggarwal at the Reuters Next conference.
"We are not a company that takes a short-term view on anything. Short-term, there might be volatilities in the market but that has never informed our decisions," said Aggarwal, who founded the company in 2010.
According to accountants EY, Indian firms collected $9.7 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first nine months of 2021, but the disastrous stock market debut of Indian digital payments giant Paytm (PAYT.NS) this month has some bankers concerned.
Ola, which competes with Uber Technologies for a majority share of India's ride-hailing business, aims to raise up to $1 billion through an IPO.
Despite the fact that Ola's finances have improved in recent months, Aggarwal said the business is aiming to improve them even more following the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Our vision for the Ola business is to be a large, broad-based mobility platform," Aggarwal said, adding that the Ola app already allows its 150 million customers to buy and sell new and used cars, and avail vehicle finance and insurance.
He stated that he intended to broaden the offering and that he intends to use the client base to offer personal finance services and microinsurance, eventually transforming the app into a super app.
Ola's separate electric vehicle company, which Aggarwal hopes to IPO in the future, is now being built up, starting with its electric scooters, for which it has had 1 million bookings, he added.
It intends to introduce an electric vehicle in 2023 and is considering establishing local battery cell production.
The firm has been chastised for delays in scooter delivery, but Aggarwal claims that these are due to a global semiconductor shortage, and that initial deliveries are scheduled for December 15.
"Our ambitions in electrification are to make India the global electric vehicle hub," he said.
While businesses like Tesla are leading the way in developing vehicles appropriate for Western markets, Aggarwal believes India can dominate in the field of tiny cars, scooters, and motorcycles, which have a higher worldwide demand.
(Source:www.businesstoday.in)
