In August 2024 Bhavish Aggarwal took Ola Electric public with a Rs 5,500 crore issue, the first listed EV company in India, as he put it to BW Disrupt. It was the kind of moment founders picture for years. But it came after a rough run, and the road there was not smooth.
He has contrasted his parents' generation, which wanted basic security, with his own: "There has to be one generation that does tapasya." His parents are doctors in Ludhiana. Before Ola Electric there was Ola Cabs, and before that a first company that did not sell a single trip.
Before Ola Electric there was Ola Cabs, and before that a first company that did not sell a single trip.
Ola Electric began in 2017 as a pilot in Nagpur with electric vehicles for Ola's fleet, and later became a separate company. Ratan Tata invested in the 2019 Series A, and SoftBank put in $250 million that July. The first scooter rolled out in August 2021 from the Tamil Nadu plant the company called the Future Factory. YourStory carried Aggarwal's own explanation for hiring women to run it: if women can win in cricket, why not in a factory.
Deliveries began in December 2021. Within weeks scooters caught fire in Pune and Thiruvananthapuram, and more fires followed, enough for the government to worry about the risk to the whole EV industry. In April 2022 a Pune fire led to a recall of 1,441 scooters. In 2023 the company replaced front fork arms for free after safety criticism. When Rajiv Bajaj mocked EV makers, Aggarwal replied that he "put ICE cubes in my drink."
The human cost showed in the culture. A 2022 Bloomberg report described his behaviour as abrasive and the workplace as hostile, which the company disputed. The prospectus showed attrition of 47.48 percent in FY23, which he attributes to junior roles. At least 13 senior executives had left in five years, per a profile in Outlook Business, which also noted supporters who say he simply pushes hard.
The numbers moved with it. Revenue was Rs 5,009 crore in FY24, against a net loss of Rs 1,584 crore. By July to September 2025, revenue was about Rs 690 crore, down 43 percent, with a loss of Rs 418 crore. In October 2025 an FIR was filed against Aggarwal and executives over an employee's suicide, which the company is contesting.
A founder can build a factory faster than he can build trust. The fires, the recall and the complaints were not strategy problems. They were what happens when customers meet the product, and they sit on the founder's shoulders long after the listing day.