

Falling sales, revenue prompts Ola Electric to cut R&D funds to pay debt, again
After a board meeting on Wednesday, the Bengaluru-based company decided to reallocate ₹575 crore, out of ₹1,505 crore it raised for research and development (R&D) during the initial public offering (IPO), to pay debt and fund organic growth activities.The company’s disclosures showed that ₹475 crore will be used to fund upcoming debt, while ₹100 crore will be used for growth purposes. This is the second time since going public in August 2024 that the company has changed its use of funds, with the first change made in August 2025.The cut in funds to be used for R&D has come as the company has total debt obligations worth ₹526 crore for financial year 2026 and ₹610 crore for financial year 2027, excluding any other short-term debt.Subhabrata Sengupta, partner at Avalon Consulting, said that funds required for R&D can change, but such a reallocation isn’t a positive sign.“How much R&D spend is needed depends on the plan.
However, reallocating the R & D budget for debt obligations, which is in effect funding losses as debt has become unsustainable due to losses, is never a good sign,” he said.Out of the ₹5,275 crore raised in the IPO, ₹3,982 crore has already been utilized across various objectives such as general corporate purpose ( ₹1,142 crore), organic growth activities ( ₹928 crore), research and product development ( ₹810 crore), repayment of Ola Electric Technologies debt ( ₹800 crore), and other debt repayments ( ₹302 crore). As of now, ₹1,293 crore is left to be utilized.Shares of Ola Electric fell more than 4.8% during trading hours on Thursday after the announcement, while Nifty Auto fell 4.1%.Put simply, Ola Electric raised ₹5,275 crore in August 2024 during its IPO to fund R&D, expansion of the gigafactory to
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