Ola’s GMV drives past pre-covid levels: CEO
1 min read . Updated: 08 Sep 2021, 06:09 AM IST
Premium‘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!’ tweeted Bhavish Aggarwal
BENGALURU : Ola chief and co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce a recovery for his ride-hailing platform from the impact of the pandemic.
“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!" tweeted Aggarwal. GMV is gross merchandise value.
“10 million people used Ola for the first time ever in FY21. 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 said.
The Ola chief added that its cabs are safe now since a significant proportion of driver-partners are vaccinated. “We’re ensuring Ola rides are safe. Three 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," 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 firm raise $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.
Aggarwal’s other venture, Ola Electric, is betting big on electric vehicles (EVs) and recently launched the much-awaited S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters.
With deliveries of scooters beginning this month, Ola Electric is expected to invest $2 billion over the next five years to build an electric two-wheeler charging network 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 over fear of contracting the virus.
In May, management consultant RedSeer said the overall mobility and ride-hailing sector had recovered 69% in terms of volume. The segment clocked 78 million rides in May, a gradual increase from the 71 million rides in January.
Among various segments of ride-hailing, autos showed the highest recovery of 89%, clocking 25 million rides in May. Despite this, cabs continued to dominate the market, clocking 40 million rides in March 2021 and holding almost 51% market share, RedSeer data showed.
