Bhavish Aggarwal back to pledging Ola Electric shares for upcoming ₹1,000 crore rights issue

New Delhi: Ten months after telling investors that Ola Electric should operate with zero share pledges, chairman and managing director Bhavish Aggarwal is back to pledging his stake in the publicly listed company to participate in the company's upcoming ₹1,000 crore rights issue.

According to Mint’s review of shareholding data, Aggarwal has pledged 20 crore Ola Electric shares, representing about 16.3% of his total shareholding in the company, and 4.32% of the company's total equity, as collateral for debentures issued by Krutrim Data Centre.

Bhavish holds 26.5% stake in Ola Electric, while his brother, Ankush Aggarwal, has a 2.98% stake through Indus Trust.

The pledge was created on 30 September, over 10 months after Aggarwal had released earlier pledges of 17.3 crore shares, covering over a tenth of his total shareholding and 3.93% of Ola Electric’s equity, following repayment of a ₹260 crore loan.

“Ola Electric promoter Bhavish Aggarwal has pledged 4.32% stake in the company, to participate in the rights issue approved by the Board as disclosed in the Draft Letter of Offer filed on 28 September 2026. This pledge is solely to fund his subscription to the issue and there are no other pledges to his securities currently; no shares are being sold. The promoter will invest alongside all other shareholders on the same terms," a company spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday evening.

The current share pledge is the largest Aggarwal has made in a single round, following a 7% increase in the share price since the last pledges were released after the 16 December announcement.

The latest share pledge also comes as Ola Electric prepares to raise ₹1,000 crore through a rights issue, where existing shareholders, including the promoters, will be offered additional shares for purchase.

Aggarwal had pledged Ola Electric shares between November 2024 and December 2025 to raise debt for Krutrim Data Centre. However, in December 2025, he monetised a small portion of his personal holding to repay the loan of about ₹260 crore, resulting in the release of all 3.93% of Ola Electric shares that had been pledged. This share pledge represented about 13% of Bhavish Aggarwal’s total shareholding in the company.

Governance questions return

At the time of clearing all pledges, Ola Electric said the transaction was undertaken to eliminate the pledge overhang.

“It is part of the founder's conviction that Ola Electric should operate with zero pledge overhang, and he should fully unwind the leverage,” the company had said in its statement.

Pledging of shares refers to the practice of promoters using their stake as collateral in raising debt. In this case, experts have noted that public investors bear the risk of shares losing its value which might require to Aggarwal to top up his pledge with more shares raising the pledging overhang on the stock.

Lenders can also take over shares and sell them to recover money in the event of a loan default, thereby increasing the risk of a downturn in the share price for public investors.

Ola Electric had also said promoter pledges could introduce ‘avoidable risk and volatility’. With the December transaction, the company said, all promoter pledges had been eliminated. Ten months later, that zero pledge position has been reversed.

“Ultimately, apprehension among shareholders arises as there is a risk of invocation of these shares if the promoter is not able to meet objectives and the share price goes down. The promoter has the right to pledge shares, but they have to create confidence among investors to assuage concerns about risks that are associated with pledging,” Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities, said.

Since going public in August 2024, Ola Electric's shares have more than halved, as its sales position in the Indian market has also slipped to fourth, behind legacy players TVS and Bajaj and new-age rival Ather Energy. In the financial year 2026, the company’s sales declined to 164,295 from 344,300 in FY25.