Ather surpasses Ola by market value for the first time as their fortunes diverge

Investors have given their vote of confidence to Ather Energy Ltd as the Bengaluru-based startup’s market cap edged past that of its larger rival, Ola Electric Mobility Ltd, for the first time since the two companies started selling electric scooters.

On Monday, Ather's shares surged 4.78% to take its market capitalization to ₹23,601 crore on BSE, while Ola Electric's shares fell 2.54% to take its valuation to ₹23,200 crore, data at the end of trading hours showed.

The change in pecking order mirrors the diverging fortunes of the two rivals. Ather crossed Ola's total sales count in a quarter for the first time in the July to September quarter, with Bhavish Aggarwal-led company seeing a 47% fall in its quarterly sales over a year earlier.

Ola ranked fourth among Indian electric two-wheeler makers as of September, with Ather jumping to the second position by selling 52,597 units in the quarter. TVS topped the list with 69,195 units, while Bajaj ranked third at 51,120.

In September, Ather surpassed Ola for the first time, selling 18,109 units against its rival’s 13,371.

Ola's troubles

Ather Energy, founded by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013, started selling its electric scooters in 2018, three years before Aggarwal’s Ola Electric joined the fray.

Ola Electric began delivering its scooters to customers in December 2021 after constructing its future factory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. The company was founded in 2017 and has been backed by Japanese investment behemoth Softbank since 2019.

While Ola quickly ramped up its sales to gain more than 50% market share, Ather scaled up its sales slowly, with the majority of its sales in south India. In the financial year 2025, Ola Electric sold 344,009 electric scooters while Ather sold 1,30,944, with the gap in market share at nearly 18%.

However, Ola’s sales plunged this year as the company faces consumers’ ire over persisting service issues. The drop came despite the company increasing store count to 4,000 from 800 in FY25, and launching a new electric motorbike. Ola has also started integrating in-house cells into its vehicles since Navratri in September.

With falling sales, Ola’s shares have also taken a hit since it listed on bourses in August 2024. They are trading 31% below the listing price. By contrast, Ather Energy has seen its shares more than double since listing in May.

Ather's promoters owned 42.09% of the company at the end of June, with co-founders Mehta and Jain holding 11.19%, and Hero Motocorp Ltd. at 30.9%.

“Volume has played a minimal role in unit economics over the years,” he said. “There's a ton of value engineering. There's a lot of process optimisation, and then there's a lot of technology improvement to bring in, which improves cost structures. Engineering is the superpower."

In the financial year 2025, Ather saw its revenue from operations surge 29% to ₹2,255 crore while its losses narrowed to ₹812 crore from ₹1,060 crore over a year earlier. Ola Electric saw its revenue fall 10% to ₹4,514 crore while its losses widened to ₹2,276 crore from ₹1,584 crore in the previous fiscal.