This marks the third such pledge since Ola Electric’s August 2024 listing, where Aggarwal has turned to his company’s shares for financing.
Exchange filings show Aggarwal pledged 13.38 crore shares, representing 10.11% of Ola Electric’s equity as of the September quarter, up from 10.71 crore shares (8.09%) in the June quarter. The additional shares were pledged as collateral to Aditya Birla Capital to raise an undisclosed loan for an unnamed group company. Over a tenth of Aggarwal’s total 30.02% holding in Ola Electric is now encumbered.
Aggarwal had previously pledged Ola Electric shares in November 2024 and February 2025, when he turned to Axis Trustee Services, Avendus Structured Credit Fund II, Avendus Finance Pvt. Ltd., and Incred Credit Opportunities Fund I to fund his private artificial intelligence venture, Krutrim.
While promoters frequently pledge shares to raise capital, Aggarwal’s repeated pledging stands out because it is not to fund Ola Electric, but rather his separate, privately held AI startup.
Additional risk for shareholders?Promoter share pledging is often seen as a red flag for investors, as it can increase financial risk: if the borrower defaults, lenders can sell the pledged shares, potentially driving down the stock price. Aggarwal’s move ties the fate of Ola Electric’s share price even more closely to his personal financing activities, reminiscent of Elon Musk’s 2022 pledge of Tesla shares to fund his $44 billion Twitter (now X) acquisition.Ola Electric shares have fallen 43% since listing and over 36% since Aggarwal’s first pledge in November last year. Bloomberg reported in June that Aggarwal had to top up Rs 20 crore worth of collateral after the stock dropped below Rs 50.
Adding to the pressure, the company recently cut its FY26 revenue guidance by nearly a third, to Rs 3,000-3,200 crore, triggering twin 5% declines in its stock within a single week.
Meanwhile, Ola Electric has been working to strengthen its balance sheet. Last month, the board approved a Rs 1,500 crore equity fundraise, just five months after clearing Rs 1,700 crore in non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to refinance existing liabilities. According to company filings, total debt and interest obligations due by FY30 stand at Rs 2,114 crore.
Aggarwal, during the June-quarter earnings call on July 14, said, “We do have some debt obligations… We will be refinancing some of that debt, not the term loans, but some of the corporate debt that we had taken before our IPO.”
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