Bhavish Aggarwal Pledges 4.32% Ola Electric Stake to Fund ₹1,000 Cr Rights Issue

Ola Electric promoter Bhavish Aggarwal has pledged a 4.32 per cent stake in the company — roughly 20 crore shares — to fund his subscription to its proposed ₹1,000 crore rights issue, the company disclosed to the stock exchanges on 4 October 2026. The pledge, created on 30 September against non-convertible debentures issued by Krutrim Data Centre Private Limited in favour of CTL Trusteeship Limited, marks a return of promoter share pledging less than a year after Aggarwal moved to clear it.

The company stressed the pledge is a funding mechanism, not an exit: it is "solely to fund his subscription to the issue, and there are no other pledges to his securities currently; no shares are being sold." Aggarwal will invest in the rights issue alongside all other shareholders on the same terms. The board had approved the ₹1,000 crore rights issue on 28 September, with the draft letter of offer filed the same day.

The reversal is notable. In December 2025, Aggarwal monetised part of his personal holding to fully repay a promoter-level loan of about ₹260 crore, releasing all 3.93 per cent of previously pledged Ola Electric shares and declaring the company should operate with "zero pledge overhang". The promoter group continued to hold about 34.6 per cent in the company after that exercise.

The pledge comes as Ola Electric stacks up equity capital: it raised ₹780.24 crore through a qualified institutional placement earlier this year, taking fundraising via the QIP and proposed rights issue to nearly ₹1,780 crore. The company listed in August 2024 at ₹76 a share; the stock has since halved, and ET reported the value of major investors' holdings in Aggarwal's Ola businesses — including SoftBank, Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Tiger Global and Z47 — has shrunk dramatically from peaks as competition intensifies.