Bhavish Aggarwal monetises Ola Electric stake, releases ₹260 crore pledges

Ola Electric's founder Bhavish Aggarwal has undertaken a limited monetisation of his personal shareholding to fully release all promoter-level share pledges totalling Rs 260 crore, according to company sources.

The pledge release transaction involved a combination of monetising a small part of the promoter holding as well as other personal incomes. It will completely release 3.93 per cent of previously pledged shares, making the founder-promoter debt-free.

Sources said the promoter-group holding will be over 34 per cent after the limited stake monetisation, among the largest in the listed new-age listed cohorts.

Ola Electric is not expected to see further promoter pledges as the current one was done to seed fund AI startup Krutrim, which has re-emerged as a cloud infra player with positive cash flows.

The monetisation does not result in any dilution of promoter control and reflects the founder's long-term commitment to Ola Electric's strategy of building a vertically integrated, India-led electric mobility and clean energy platform, sources added.

Typically, promoter share pledges act as a potential source of volatility and margin-related risk. The complete elimination of pledged shares removes a critical overhang and materially strengthens the company's risk profile.

The move was executed at the promoter level and does not involve Ola Electric as a company. It's unlikely to have any impact on the company's electric mobility business, day-to-day operations, management, governance framework, financial position or long-term strategic plans, the sources added.

With this, Ola Electric's founder joins a list of promoters, including those at Apollo Hospitals and Hindustan Zinc, who exercised limited stake monetisation to release share pledges during this financial year.