Ola Electric ties up with banks, financial institutions for loans to customers, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Ola Electric on Monday said it has tied up with leading banks and financial institutions, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Prime and TATA Capital, for providing loans to customers for its S1 electric scooter that will be available for purchase from September 8.

The company, which had last month launched the Ola S1 electric scooter in two variants — S1 and S1 Pro — at prices Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999, respectively (ex-showroom including FAME II subsidy and excluding state subsidies), said it will start deliveries in October.

“We have tied up with all the major banks and (financial) institutions…we will have many of them live starting September 8 and then others will be live soon after,” Ola Electric Chief Marketing Officer Varun Dubey told PTI.

The banks and financial institutions that Ola Electric has tied up include Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank, IndusInd Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, Jana Small Finance Bank, Kotak Mahindra Prime, TATA Capital and YES Bank.

Dubey said as consumers will be buying online the entire process is going to be “very seamless” and all those who choose financing should be able to avail of the option.

“They will be able to also get all the details in terms of what is the loan approval amount they have, what they need to do…Also, we have got very attractive financing options, with the EMI starting at just Rs 2,999 for S1…,” he added.

When asked about the delivery plans for the scooters, Dubey said from September 8 onwards, people who have reserved can convert that to a purchase by paying the remaining amount and finalise vehicle variant and colour options.

“Then we will start deliveries for them from October onwards. We will be doing home delivery and we will actually take the scooters to their doorsteps,” Dubey added.

When asked about the impact of the current semiconductor shortage on the company’s ability to meet demand, he said, “It’s definitely an evolving situation. Currently the timelines that we have given out factor in the various constraints.”

As people keep converting orders into purchases, he said Ola Electric will update its customers about the waiting period on the basis of “where they are in the queue or when they have exactly purchased how many people purchased before them”.

Ola Electric had opened pre-launch bookings of its electric scooters in July for Rs 499 and had received 1 lakh orders in just 24 hours but it has not disclosed how many orders it has received so far.

On August 15, the company announced its foray into the green mobility space with the launch of its first electric scooter, Ola S1.

The scooter comes in 10 colours with in-house development 8.5 KW motor and 3.97 kWh battery packs. Ola is setting up a manufacturing plant, spread across 500 acres, in Tamil Nadu.

The company had stated that it would initially start with 10 lakh annual production capacity and then scale it up to 20 lakh, in line with market demand, in the first phase.

When fully completed, Ola Electric had claimed that its plant would have an annual capacity of one crore units “that is 15 per cent of the world’s entire total two-wheeler production”.



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Non-bank lenders eye electric vehicle financing to grow business, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Non-bank lenders are eyeing the electric two-wheeler space to grow disbursements. Shriram City Union Finance is tying up with Ola Electric which recently unveiled electric scooters ranging upwards of Rs 1 lakh. Hero Electric also partnered with two-wheeler life cycle management company Wheels EMI for offering easy financing options to customers.

“We believe that electric vehicle will be a big industry few years down the line and are taking efforts to expand base,” said Y S Chakravarti, MD, Shriram City Union Finance. “We are soon inking a tie up with Ola Electric, have tied up with Hero Electric and some original equipment manufactures.”

The non-bank lender has tied up with Okinawa, Ather Energy and Ampere. The two-wheeler financing segment is 26-27 per cent of its total loan portfolio.

Hero Electric has also collaborated with Wheels EMI to offer easy financing options for the purchase of electric two-wheelers in India.

“There is demand for flexible finance options, especially from rural India, as more and more customers today are enquiring and considering electric two-wheelers as their next upgrade,” said Sohinder Gill-CEO, Hero Electric

Hero Electric currently sells over 10,000 two-wheelers every month, of which 40% comes from rural pockets of India.

India’s electric vehicle (EV) financing industry is projected to be worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore in 2030, about 80 per cent of the current retail vehicle finance industry, according to a new report.
According to industry players major issues remain like financing challenges, high interest and insurance rates, low loan-to-value ratios, and limited specialized financing options.

“One of the major challenges have been around the quality of electric vehicles, if the vehicle stops running due to some quality issues, it impacts the collection of EMIs directly and there have been instances in the past that some of the financing partners had to face,” said Sumit Chhazed, Co-founder, OTO Capital which specialises in providing cost-efficient finance model for EVs.

“Another challenge is that the resale market is not yet established, hence if repossessed, it becomes difficult for financing partners to liquidate the asset at a desired value.”



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