‘Some media outlets and vested interests have deliberately misrepresented sales data mismatch it as a regulatory issue’
MUMBAI, March 21 (The CONNECT) – Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric has termed the reports of an alleged mismatch in its sales and registration data as “misinformation and smear campaigns” and coordinated effort by vested interests.
In a regulatory filing this morning, Ola Electric said “Our sales remain strong, and the temporary backlog in February was due to ongoing negotiations with our vendors responsible for vehicle registrations”.
This backlog is being rapidly cleared, with daily registrations exceeding 50% of our three-month daily sales average. 40% of the February backlog has already been cleared, and the remaining will be fully resolved by the end of March 2025, Ola Electric said.
The Heavy Industries Ministry has directed Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to probe the mismatch between Ola Electric’s reported sales figures and actual vehicle registrations along with numerous consumer complaints against the Bhavish Aggarwal-owned electric two-wheeler maker and submit a report within 15 days, a PTI report quoting unnamed sources carried by livemint.com said.
The share price of Ola Electric, which slid by 4% in the wake of media reports, bounced back and shot up by over 6% today after the company clarification on what it called a false narrative.
The company said the it registered a temporary registration backlog and its “focus remains on resolving the backlog efficiently and continuing to serve our customers with transparency and reliability.”
Yet, it regretted that “certain media outlets and vested interests have deliberately misrepresented it as a regulatory issue through misinformation and smear campaigns”.
Ola Electric said the campaign against it intensified after it discontinued contracts with two nationwide vendors as part of the strategy to streamline operations and drive profitability. “Since then, a coordinated effort has been made to create confusion and trigger unnecessary scrutiny,” Ola claimed.
