Ola’s GMV crosses pre-Covid levels: Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola chief and co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Tuesday said that his ride hailing platform's gross merchandise value (GMV) has crossed pre-Covid levels and the recovery from the second wave is three times faster.

“India is moving again! Our Ola cabs GMV crossed pre-Covid levels last week. Recovery from the second wave is three times faster. Clearly India is up and about!,” Aggarwal tweeted.

Further, close to 10 million individuals have used Ola for the first time in fiscal year 2020-2021 (FY’22), he added.  

“10 million people used Ola for the first time ever in FY’21. Welcome guys! As people move, they want to feel safe so they’re switching to personal or shared mobility instead of public transport. Many are moving to Autos taking our Auto business to almost 150% of pre-covid levels,” Aggarwal wrote on microblogging website Twitter.  

The Ola chief added that its cabs are safe now since a significant portion of its driver partners are vaccinated. “We’re ensuring Ola rides are safe. 3 lakh+ drivers on Ola are vaccinated and we’ll have 100% vaccinated soon! We’re onboarding more driver partners, entering new cities and building new products to better serve all your mobility needs post covid. More soon. Let’s keep India moving!,” tweeted Aggarwal.  

The news about Ola Cab’s recovery comes at a time when the company is actively preparing for a public listing on the Indian exchanges next year, which can see the ride-hailing giant raise anywhere between $1.5-2 billion. The company has been in talks with bankers and has shortlisted Kotak Mahindra Capital and Citigroup to help with the listing process, Mint reported earlier citing sources. 

Additionally, Ola Electric, the subsidiary of Ola Cabs’ parent ANI Technologies is also betting big on electric vehicles (EVs) and recently launched the much-awaited S1 and S1 Pro electric scooter models. With deliveries of scooters beginning this month, Ola Electric is also expected to invest $2 billion over the next five years to build an electric two-wheeler charging network along with its partners. 

Since the onset of covid-19, mobility has faced its toughest year till date, as individuals continued to reduce dependence on public transport in fear of contracting the virus.  

Earlier in May, this year, management consultancy RedSeer stated that the overall mobility and ride-hailing sector had recovered 69% in terms of volume. The segment had overall clocked 78 million rides in May, a gradual increase from the 71 million rides clocked in January 2021.  

Among various segments of ride-hailing, autos showed the highest recovery of 89%, clocking 25 million rides in May, this year. In spite of this, cabs continued to dominate the market clocking 40 million rides in March 2021 and holding almost 51% market share, RedSeer data showed.