As for its sales of February 2025, Ola Electric explained that the figures are real customer orders with full payment and not just token bookings.
The company, in a statement, said “almost 90% of these orders were paid in full at the time of booking,” noting that the sales comprise confirmed client orders for its Roadster X motorcycle and third-generation e-scooter. Ola also added that in the month, some models were being sold outright instead of just pre-booking.
The explanation follows a Bloomberg report that stated Ola could have overstated its market share in trying to regain investors’ confidence by including bookings for vehicles that were not yet available in its sales data in February.
In a letter, Ola apparently informed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that it had registered bookings for 1,395 Roadster X motorcycles and 10,866 Gen 3 e-scooters in its February sales. The Roadster has not yet been launched, though the Gen 3 scooters were delivered from March. These combined accounted for nearly half of the 25,207 “confirmed orders” booked in that month.
In contrast, a mere more than 8,600 Ola vehicle registrations were registered by the authorities during February, just a third of what the company reported.
Ola has earlier been asked by the government to explain the difference. It threatened “adverse action” if explanation was not provided within seven days and asked in a message that the company revise its data to include only cars that had been invoiced and dispatched.
Ola explained that the delay in registrations at that point was due to continuous renegotiations with two suppliers.
The company, over the last several months, has been on shaky ground. It has seen transport authorities’ raids and car confiscations in some of its sites this year alone for plying without genuine commercial certificates. After listing last August, it enjoyed a robust post-listing debut, but subsequently has dived over 60% after failing to shore up its operating and regulatory worries.