Ola Electric addresses sales discrepancies, vows to clear backlog

The company's clarification came amid sales figure mismatch, consumer complaints

Ola Electric on Friday said its sales were strong and asserted that the company remained focused on clearing all backlog by the end of March, amid discrepancies in actual and declared sales data for February on the government's Vahan portal.

 

The company earlier announced that it sold 25,000 electric scooters last month. However, according to data on the Vahan portal, at the end of February and as of March 17, it had registered only 8,651 scooters.

 

“Our sales remain strong, and the temporary backlog in February was due to ongoing negotiations with our vendors responsible for vehicle registrations. This backlog is being rapidly cleared, with daily registrations exceeding 50 per cent of our three-month daily sales average. About 40 per cent of the February backlog has already been cleared, and the remaining will be fully resolved by the end of March 2025,” the company said.

 

As of March 21, the February sales figure on the Vahan portal was 8,652 units. According to the Motor Vehicle Act, vehicles need to be registered with the transport department of the states concerned within seven days of being retailed. The Central government’s Vahan portal records all registered vehicles, which forms the basis for capturing retail sales data. 

 

This is a straightforward case of a temporary registration backlog, yet certain media outlets and vested interests have deliberately misrepresented it as a regulatory issue through misinformation and smear campaigns. This intensified after we discontinued contracts with two nationwide vendors managing our registration process as part of our strategy to streamline operations and drive profitability. Since then, a coordinated effort has been made to create confusion and trigger unnecessary scrutiny, it said in a statement.

 

“Our focus remains on resolving the backlog efficiently and continuing to serve our customers with transparency and reliability,” it added.

 

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on March 11 and 18 wrote to Ola Electric, seeking clarification on data discrepancies in their actual sales and declared sales on the Vahan portal, but the company has not responded to the ministry yet.

 

An executive at Ola Electric told Business Standard on Thursday that the company is in the process of responding to it and plans to reply to the MHI soon.

 

The company has also received notices in four states related to trade certificates for a few of its stores in these states. In a disclosure to the National Stock Exchange on March 21, the company said it is in the process of responding to it as well.

 

When the ministries asked the company if it was aware of any information that had not been announced to the exchanges that could explain the movement in the trading, Ola Electric, in its written clarification, said that the company was not aware of any such information.

 

“Additionally, we would like to submit that all material events and information, as mandated under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (SEBI Listing Regulations) have been duly disclosed to the stock exchanges,” Ola Electric said.

 

It further confirmed that the article had no material impact on the company.