Jaipur man buys Ather electric scooter worth over a lakh using ₹10 coins; CEO Tarun Mehta shares pic

livemint.com:

₹ ₹ 1,09,947-1,44,871 recently. What made the purchase interesting was that the customer paid the entire amount in ₹10 coins. Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta took to social media to share a picture of the "new Ather owner" being handed over the keys.

Mehta tweeted, "A new Ather owner just bought himself a 450 in Jaipur...all with 10 Re coins!" The picture shared by him also showed tens of pouch — filled with ₹10 coin — laid on the table. Mehta didn't specify the exact model of the Ather 450 series the Jaipur man purchased. However, the Bengaluru-based EV startup offers three models under the Ather 450 series — Ather 450Apex, Ather 450X and Ather 450S.

The prices start at around ₹ 1.10 lakh and can go up to ₹ 1.45 lakh (effective ex-showroom price in Jaipur). The on-road price could touch ₹ 1.75 lakh. Ather, backed by Singapore's GIC and Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, is planning an India listing and has a market valuation of $739.4 million, Reuters reported while citing data from investment tracker Tracxn.

India's government anticipates the share of electric two-wheelers in overall sales to rise to 60%-70% by 2030 from 4.7% in 2023. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Ather Energy Pvt is seeking to hire investment banks to help arrange a potential initial public offering in Mumbai as early as this year. The company is selecting banks for a listing that could value the firm at about $2 billion, sources told the media.