Ola Electric raises $100 mn in long-term debt from Bank of Baroda

The company has claimed this to be the largest long-term debt financing agreement for the Indian EV industry

Ola Electric, the electric vehicles (EV) arm of cab aggregator Ola, on Monday announced that it had raised $100 million (Rs 744.5 crore) in long-term debt from Bank of Baroda. 

The company claimed this to be the largest long-term debt financing agreement for the Indian EV industry. This 10-year debt will be used in funding and financial closure of Phase-I of the Ola Futurefactory, Ola’s global manufacturing hub for its electric two-wheelers.

Last December, Ola had said it would invest Rs 2,400 crore in setting up Phase-I of the factory. Earlier this month, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had announced on Twitter that the factory’s Phase-I was nearing completion and that the company's electric scooters would soon hit the market. 

“Today’s agreement for long-term debt financing between Ola and Bank of Baroda signals the confidence of the institutional lenders in our plans to build the world’s largest two-wheeler factory in record time. We are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainable mobility and manufacture made in India EVs for the world and we are happy that Bank of Baroda has joined us in our journey,” said Aggarwal. 

The Ola Futurefactory is coming up on a 500-acre site in Tamil Nadu. At full capacity of 10 million vehicles annually, it will be the world’s largest two-wheeler factory. 

Besides its two-wheeler factory, Ola Electric is also working on Hypercharger, which the company claims will be the world’s largest electric two-wheeler charging network, stretching across 400 cities in India and Europe, with over 100,000 charging stations. Ola electric scooters are expected to offer a range of 75 km with just 18 minutes of charging.