Two-wheeler financing and e-commerce platform, OTO has revealed its plans to introduce a dedicated platform for electric vehicles by March 2023.
Currently, the platform offers services in 10 cities and receives 5,000 bookings every month.
“There is a need to encourage the adoption of and educate customers about EVs. The platform will have features such as virtual trails, expert views, and more. We will curate 15 to 20 EV models, specific to categories such as last-mile logistics, utility scooters, and bikes,” said Sumit Chhazed, Co-Founder and CEO.
Moreover, the platform will have a team of experts who would help customers select products, and facilitate financing. The EV platform will be part of the OTO ecosystem, with a separate interface.
Increased bookings and the overall growth of the EV space, necessitated a separate EV platform, the CEO commented. “Last year, our platform saw 10 queries for EV vehicles. This year, roughly 30-35 per cent of our customers are interested in exploring EV options. There is a 3x jump in the number of queries in the EV market, compared to the last year.”
Similarly, EV growth has been almost 10x that of last year, when the company did 150 EV transactions per month, which is now more than 1,000 EV bookings on a monthly basis. The company expects monthly bookings to scale to 5,000 in the coming year. Additionally, it has tied up with EV players, including Hero Electric, Okinawa, Ampere, Bounce, Pure EV, and Ola Electric.
By the end of 2023, OTO plans to expand its service offerings from the present 10 to 25 cities, and increase its monthly bookings from 5,000 to 20,000. Additionally, it anticipates raising its annual disbursal from Rs 500 crore to Rs 2,500 crore by 2024.
“To scale our business, we will replicate what we did in the 10 cities, plus we have a strong team and partnerships in place for our target. We have around 500 people today, and this team is capable of handling 2x the business with the same strategy. Going forward, we would grow the headcount from 500 to 800 by the end of 2023,” he added.
According to Chhazed, in India, 50 per cent of two-wheeler purchases are funded by loans, and the share of banks and NBFCs in the two-wheeler loan market is 40 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively. “Moreover, the Indian two-wheeler loan segment is expected to grow at a compounded rate of 11 per cent or more annually, and the segment is expected to be worth $12.3 billion by 2025. Therefore, two-wheeler financing is envisioned to project a bullish trend.”