Ola's revenue doubled in FY22, losses widen over 36% to Rs 1,522.33 cr

Cab operator and ridesharing company Ola has doubled its revenue in the financial year 2022 on the back of a gradual recovery in travel demand, the company’s latest filings to the Registrar of Companies stated.  

In FY22, Ola’s consolidated operating revenue rose to Rs 1,970.4 crore from Rs 983.2 crore from the year before clearly showing a sharp recovery from the lows of the pandemic that disrupted the mobility business globally.  

The revenue, however, was still lower than Rs 2,662.3 crore in the pre-covid year of FY20.  

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company widened its net losses in FY22 to Rs 1,522.33 crore from Rs 1,116.6 crore in FY21. The company was forced to cut costs and lay off staff, helping narrow its losses from Rs 2,208.2 crore in FY20. 

 In FY22, Ola derived about 61 per cent of its revenue, Rs 1,208.6, from its ride-hailing services business in India, which also posted a loss of Rs101 crore. Financial services comprised a small part of the revenue. 

Most of Ola’s losses came from its ‘other’ segment, which consists of cab-hailing business overseas, the business of buying and selling of used cars, cloud kitchens and stores business. The segment reported a revenue of Rs 666.4 crore IN FY22 and a loss of Rs 725.5 crore. 

Founded in December 2010 by Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola currently has operations in over 250 locations in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.  

Ola counts marquee investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Temasek and Warburg Pincus among its backers. It became a unicorn or a startup with a valuation of $1 billion or more in 2015. 

In July, Ola’s sister firm Ola Electric reported an operating loss of $136 million on revenue of $335 million in fiscal year 2023, according to a Reuters report dated July 28. 

On August 2, it was reported that funds operated by US-based investment major Vanguard Group have slashed the value of their holdings in ANI Technologies to $3.5 billion, which is almost down over 50% from a peak of $7.3 billion.  

Vanguard’s International Growth Fund has pegged its holding in Ola at $25 million, down from the $33.8 million valuation it assigned to its holding in its half-yearly report in May. 

The total valuation now stands at $3.5 billion for the entire firm, down from $4.8 billion indicated by the investor’s report that reflected Ola’s valuation as of February 28. The mobility company last raised $139 million in December 2021 as part of a funding round, led by Edelweiss Private Equity. 

Also read: Adani group shares: MSCI makes no changes to Foreign Inclusion Factor in August review

Also read: Ather to launch three new electric scooters including Ather 450S: How to watch LIVE, what to expect