Ola Electric reports record-low quarterly revenue amid store closures, layoffs

Ola Electric Mobility Ltd saw its revenue more than halve in the October to December period from a year ago, recording its lowest-ever quarterly revenue since it went public in August 2024, as the company closes stores and lays off employees in a bid to cut costs.

The company saw its losses narrow slightly to ₹487 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2026, from ₹564 crore in the year-ago period, while its revenue fell 57% to ₹504 crore amid dwindling sales. The electric two-wheeler company reported that its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) margin deteriorated to -68.7% from -47.3% a year ago.

Vehicle deliveries during the quarter fell 61% to 32,680 units, its lowest quarterly sales number since it went public.

Cost reset

The Bengaluru-based firm is now focusing its efforts on cutting costs, with the shareholder letter informing that it has reduced its store count to 700 from more than 4,000 a year ago as it concentrates its footprint.

Moreover, the company said in a public statement on 30 January that it is laying off 5% of its employees.

Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and managing director of Ola Electric, told analysts and investors during a post-earnings call on Friday that the company can break even at 15,000 unit sales a month, but will not commit to a timeline of hitting the mark. Currently, its average quarterly deliveries are at 10,893 per month, as per its disclosures.

“We have to fix our service and rebuild the brand trust with that, which the company is in the middle of doing. It will take us another quarter or so to fully institutionalize service. And this time, what we have done is really taken the foundational building approach to fixing the front-end operational challenges that we faced,” Aggarwal told analysts.

Notably, the management call with analysts was one of the shortest since it went public as less than half a dozen analysts were given a chance to pose questions. Typically, earnings calls post results last anywhere between 45 minutes and one hour, with more than a dozen analysts posing questions to the management.

Sales slide

The store closures came as the company faced a steady decline in scooter sales. On 29 December, A Mint review of January-November statewise vehicle registration data from the government’s Vahan portal showed that Ola Electric failed to post year-on-year growth in any month since February 2025 in four of the country’s biggest electric two-wheeler markets—Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In at least one state and one Union territory, the company recorded zero sales at least once over the past three months, contributing to its slide to fifth position in recent rankings.

The engagement with analysts was the first time Deepak Rastogi, the new chief financial officer of Ola Electric, spoke in a public forum. On 19 January, the company informed the exchanges that Ola Electric’s chief financial officer Harish Abhichandani had resigned.

Aggarwal and new CFO Rastogi focused on the company’s efforts to reduce costs. “Another important point is the structural cost reset that we have done. And you see that about a year ago, our Opex cost was about ₹850 crores (reducing to ₹484 crore),” Aggarwal said during the call.

Profit push

While analysts questioned the company on how it plans to get sales back on track, the management insisted that it has the competitive advantage in terms of vertical integration when it comes to lithium ion cells and other products. Aggarwal noted that competitors are currently focused on market share gains, while Ola is ready to wait for long-term gains.

In its shareholder letter, the company emphasized its focus on reversing the sales slump.

“As service performance stabilises fully, we expect the underlying strength of our product proposition to reassert itself in the market. As service metrics normalise and volumes recover, the combination of improved margins and a structurally lower cost base materially accelerates our path to profitability,” the letter said.

Ola’s performance was in contrast to its Bengaluru-based peer Ather Energy, which saw its losses more than halve to ₹85 crore from a year earlier as its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) or operating margin improved by 16 percentage points from -19% to -3%.

Its total revenue surged 53% year-on-year ₹996 crore, driven by a 50% jump in e-scooter sales to 68,000 units during the quarter.

In the last one year, Ola’s shares have declined 52%, as against a 26% gain in Nifty Auto. On Friday, Ola’s shares declined 0.16% as against a 1% decline in Nifty Auto. Its results were declared after market hours.