Ola pumps Rs 100 cr into car leasing biz as it looks to build its fleet

Cab aggregator Ola has invested Rs 100 crore in its car leasing subsidiary, Ola Fleet Technologies.

The investment comes at a time when the homegrown firm is locked in an intense battle with US-based Uber for leadership in the Indian market.

The proposal for Ola investing Rs 100 crore into Ola Fleet Technologies was accepted by the board of the car leasing arm last month, as per documents filed with the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

The SoftBank-backed Ola had invested Rs 50 crore in the unit in February this year.

Ola did not reply to an emailed query in this regard.

In 2015, Ola had announced setting up of a captive leasing subsidiary to finance cars to be added to its platform and had announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

Through Ola Fleet Technologies, the Bengaluru-based firm focuses on building its own fleet and skilling drivers.

Under the programme, drivers could lease a car for a minimal initial deposit and then pay monthly lease payments with an option to own the vehicle after a period of three years.

Interestingly, Ola Fleet posted a loss of Rs 13.3 crore for FY16 compared to a profit of Rs 3.9 crore in the previous year.

Ola, for its own business, posted a consolidated loss of over Rs 2,311 crore -- about Rs 6 crore a day -- during fiscal 2015-16.

However, despite the losses, SoftBank pumped in fresh funding to the tune of Rs 1,675 crore into Ola in April this year.

Ola has raised close to USD 2 billion investments from investors like Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Accel Partners US and Falcon Edge.