ANI Technologies, the parent entity of ride-hailing giant Ola, has reported its total income on a consolidated basis at Rs 1,039 crore in FY21 as against Rs 2,721 crore during FY20, a drop of 62 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, data accessed from business intelligence firm, Tofler stated.
The drop in revenue was majorly due to the COVID-19 pandemic derailing the core mobility business of Ola, although its CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal has recently stated that the revenue levels have crossed pre-pandemic levels. Ola is likely to file for a $1 billion IPO and will list on the domestic stock exchanges in FY22.
However, the company has been able to bring down its losses by curtailing employee expenses, and advertising spends, due to which the losses before tax on a consolidated basis were reported at Rs 839 crore in FY21 as against Rs 2,213 crore a year ago, (nearly 62 per cent dip).
On a standalone basis, Ola’s income fell by 63 per cent to Rs 77.2 crore in FY21 compared to Rs 2,073 crore in FY20.
Ola has said in its regulatory filings that due to prevailing COVID-19 pandemic circumstance and nationwide lockdown imposed by the Government of India, the revenue of the company was impacted severely.
“There being operating losses in the company, the board is unable to recommend dividend on any class of the shares of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. The company stepped into the new financial year amidst a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19. The business dropped to zero during April 2020 with strict national lockdown. With non-emergency travel restricted, the company placed itself as a partner for emergency services, helping governments to manage the pandemic and those who were in need of medical assistance,” the ride hailing start-up said.
Business recovery
Ola said that in a year of crisis, the company has come out financially stronger and has improved its ENTR (Effective Net Revenue) by 4.7 per cent, and also by bringing direct cost lower by 0.6 per cent. This led to EBIDTA turning profitable at Mobility level.
In the auto ride business, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led firm said that the bookings recovered to 100 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 levels in August 2021 through a flat commission model which helped the partner drivers earn better.
The company said that it is currently adding 1.1 million new users in India mobility every month organically (without any marketing money being spent). There are 4.88 lakh transacting driver partners in August 2021 vs 6.24 lakh in February 2020 and 3.45 lakh in August 2020.
Monthly transacting users jumped from 4.5 million in August 2020 to 11 million in August 2021, as per Ola’s regulatory filing.
The company has updated its rider application to book a ride in 30- 40 per cent lower time to book a cab than the previous version. The process of booking a cab has been simplified by displaying all prices and categories upfront, making it easier for customers, Ola added.
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