Ola Electric Mobility is borrowing $100 million from the Bank of Baroda (BoB) to partially finance India’s most magnificent ride-hailing platform that claims to be the world’s most comprehensive electric two-wheeler factory, in the first phase of construction.
Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd, the electric vehicle (EV) arm of the Bengaluru-based company will raise the long-term funds. The plant is being constructed in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district. The factory will have an opening capacity of 2 million electric vehicles a year.
Ola’s chairman and group chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal told,
“Today’s agreement for long-term debt financing between Ola and Bank of Baroda signals the confidence of the institutional lenders in our plans to build the world’s largest two-wheeler factory in record time. We are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainable mobility and manufacture made-in-India EVs for the world, and we are happy that Bank of Baroda has joined us in our journey. “
Earlier in December, Ola stated that it will invest ₹2,400 crores in the first phase of its so-called ‘future factory’. Recently, Aggarwal tweeted on Twitter that the factory was nearing fulfilment, and the Ola brand of electric scooters would be launched soon.
Last May, Ola procured Amsterdam-based electric scooter producer Etergo with intentions to originate its own EV version in 2021. It also intends to set up a network of 100,000 EV chargers across 400 cities, of which 5,000 charging points will be established in the first 100 cities this year.
Last Friday, the fund-raising from Bank of Baroda follows Ola declaring that it has accumulated $500 million for its core ride-hailing business, driven by private equity firm Temasek Holdings Ltd and Plum Wood Investment Ltd, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus LLC, leading off its prospective public offering.
Ola’s electric vehicle factory is being constructed on a 500-acre site. The plant will have a capacity of manufacturing 10 million vehicles a year.
Sanjiv Chadha, managing director and CEO, Bank of Baroda, said, “The government has declared several policies to encourage Make-in-India and facilitate India to become a global EV leader. Ola is leading from the front, and we are delighted to partner with them for their EV business. The Ola Future Factory will put India on the global EV map, and we are proud to be associated with them,”.
