Ola Electric misses FY26 revenue guidance, cuts losses in reset year
New Delhi: Ola Electric Mobility Ltd missed its full-year revenue forecast for FY26 after sales nearly halved and the company’s annual revenue fell below rival Ather Energy Ltd for the first time due to operational challenges and increasing competition in India’s electric two-wheeler market.
The Bengaluru-based company on Wednesday reported a 50% year-on-year decline in FY26 revenue. ₹2,253 crore, much lower than this figure ₹3,000-3,200 crore guideline issued in November. Ola Electric attributed this shortfall to operational reset and higher investments in in-house cell manufacturing.
The company’s sales of scooters and bikes fell 44% year-on-year to 173,794 in the fiscal year. ₹1,833 crore ₹2,276 crore in FY25.
Income decline also allowed for competition between cities Ather Energy Ltd will surpass Ola Electric in annual revenue for the first time since the two companies started selling scooters together.
Ather’s revenue increased by 63% compared to the previous year ₹3,671 crore in FY26, driven by a 69% increase in volumes to 263,000 units, while net loss narrowed to 263,000 units. ₹517 crore ₹812 crore in the same period of the previous year.
The shortfall in Ola Electric’s revenue guidance also comes on the back of its lowest quarterly revenue since its IPO in August 2024. Its revenue fell 57% year-on-year in the January-March quarter to 2024. ₹265 crore, loss narrowed ₹500 crore ₹870 crore.
The company announced its results after trading hours when its stock closed with a 1.04% gain against Nifty Auto’s 0.84% gain.
Reset and recovery
The company told shareholders in its quarterly letter that fiscal 2026 is a reset year, affecting its sales.
“We used the year to strengthen the fundamentals of the business (service, product quality, gross margins, operating costs, cash discipline, sales productivity and cell production). Q4 was a low-volume quarter, but it also showed that the reset is working,” Ola Electric said in its letter.
Ola Electric has said it plans to raise capital for its cell business to increase its generation capacity to 20 gigawatt hours (GWh) from the current 6 GWh, as it plans to monetise its cell business.
It is banking on plans to improve service, increase sales and use its 6 GWh cell facility in the current financial year to normalize revenues.
Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and managing director of Ola Electric, stated that the company will move all its products to own cells by the end of September 2026, which will help in cost savings.
“Our advantage is own cells He actually got better. Even in this low volume production where we are today, it is cheaper for us to make our own cells rather than buying cells from outside,” Aggarwal told investors and analysts during the May 20 earnings call.
He added that once 6 GWh of capacity is used during this year, “we will get a 10-15% advantage in building our own cell, including the operational expenses of the Gigafactory.”
Ola expects 40,000-45,000 orders in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, almost double the previous quarter. This will be lower than the sales of over 68,000 units recorded in the first quarter of FY26, indicating that a full recovery in sales may still take time.
