ANI Technologies, the parent firm of ride-hailing major Ola Cabs, saw its standalone loss narrow by 65% to INR 1,082 crore in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.
The firm had incurred a loss of INR 3,082 crore in FY22 on a standalone basis, according to partial data shared on the company’s website. Sales for FY23 grew to INR 1,988 crore, against INR 1,220 crore a year earlier.
In comparison, rival Uber India reported a loss of INR 311 crore in FY23, wider than the INR 197 crore it incurred in FY22. The firm’s operating revenue, however, grew 54% to INR 2,666 crore in FY23.
Besides ride hailing, ANI Technologies also houses Ola’s subsidiaries including Ola Financial, Ola Fleet and Ola Stores. On a consolidated basis, the firm reported INR 772 crore in loss, while sales income came up to INR 2,799 crore.
Ola’s food delivery entity Pisces eServices reported a loss of INR 106 crore in FY23, a drop from the previous fiscal’s INR 504 crore. However, the unit’s sales income dropped significantly to INR 1 crore in FY23, compared to INR 114 crore a year earlier. In May 2022, ET had reported on Ola sharply scaling down its food delivery business.
The firm’s cab leasing unit Ola Fleet Technologies reported a 17% narrower loss of INR 387 crore, while its grocery unit Ola Stores Technologies also saw its loss decrease to INR 81 crore in FY23, compared to INR 150 crore a year ago.
On September 1, ET reported that Ola had joined the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), with an ONDC-linked food feature embedded in its app. The foray came after multiple experiments with food delivery and quick commerce which the firm eventually scaled down or shut completely.
Ola competes with Uber and the likes of Rapido, Blusmart and ONDC-backed Namma Yatri in the ride-hailing space. On December 26, ET reported how some of the new platforms and services were attempting to challenge Uber and Ola by aiming to address the gaps in customer service and driver satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Ola Cabs’ sister firm Ola Electric filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), ET reported on December 22, becoming the first electric vehicle (EV) startup in India to go for an initial public offering (IPO). Ola Electric is looking to raise up to INR 5,500 crore through a fresh issue, apart from an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 95.2 million shares.
On the other hand, founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal, who oversees both ANI Technologies and Ola Electric, has also launched a third venture, an artificial intelligence (AI) firm called Krutrim. On December 18, Krutrim announced its large language model (LLM) that would have generative support for 10 Indian languages and would be able to take inputs in a total of 22 languages.
