Ola lost Rs 6 crore a day during 2015-16. Here's why

Ola posted a consolidated loss of over Rs 2,311 crore in 2015-16

SoftBank-backed cab aggregator Ola posted a consolidated loss of over Rs 2,311 crore — about Rs 6 crore a day — during fiscal 2015-16, on account of heavy advertising and promotional expenses and high employee cost.

The Bengaluru-based firm, which is locked in an intense battle for leadership with US-based Uber, has seen its losses widen about three times from Rs 796.11 crore in 2014-15, Ola said in a filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

ANI Technologies -- which runs Ola -- did see its revenues registering a stellar growth at Rs 758.23 crore during 2015-16 compared to Rs 103.77 crore in the previous fiscal.

Emails sent to Ola remained unanswered.

Anchal Agarwal, co-founder of research and analytics firm Tofler said while the absolute amount of losses have indeed widened, the loss margin has "reduced considerably".

"They spent almost Rs 8.5 for every rupee earned in 2014 -15. That number is down to almost Rs 4 for every rupee earned for 2015-16. With the pull-back in incentives etc in recent months, it's possible this has now dropped to levels at par with e-commerce companies that spend roughly Rs 2-3 for every rupee earned," she added.

The consolidated numbers include financials of ANI Technologies, Ola Fleet Technologies (leasing business), Serendipity Infolabs (Taxi For Sure) and Zipcash Card Service (46 per cent ownership).

In August 2016, Ola shut down the TaxiForSure (TFS) business, about 18 months after acquiring the rival for $200 million.

As per the filing, Ola's losses were widened on account of employee related expenses rising over five-fold to Rs 461.60 crore in the said fiscal from Rs 85.16 crore in 2014- 15. Similarly, Ola expanded its advertising and promotional expenditure to over Rs 437.89 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 99.84 crore in the previous year.