Electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric plans to raise up to Rs 2000 crore by selling a stake in its battery arm, Ola Cell Technologies (OCT), people familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.
The fundraise will involve selling a minority stake to financial investors and comes amid Ola Electric's efforts to restructure operations and shore up its balance sheet, as it tries to claw back market share and arrest the recent slide in the sale of its electric two wheelers.
What does Ola Cell Technologies do?
OCT owns India's first gigafactory, a lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant located in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, with 1.5 GWh of operational capacity and plans to scale to 6 GWh by the end of this financial year.
Investment bank Avendus and Motilal Oswal have been mandated to run the fundraising process, one of the persons cited above said.
Ola Electric, Avendus and Motilal Oswal declined to comment for this story.
The stake dilution plans will also determine the market valuation of a crucial battery infrastructure asset that has not yet been ascertained, sources said, adding that the asset's unique nature has attracted inbound interest from financial investors, including some leading sovereign wealth funds.
The gigafactory, with an upfront investment of Rs 3500 crore, marks a significant step toward localising battery cell manufacturing in
India, a critical capability as the country seeks to reduce dependence on imported cells while building a domestic EV supply chain. The plant will support energy storage products and systems across industries beyond the two-wheeler market.
Ola’s turnaround efforts
Ola Electric said in January this year that it will lay off 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring effort.
The company is "doubling down" on speed and discipline through increased automation across its front-end operations, adding that it is building a "leaner organisation" positioned for long-term, profitable growth.
Sales for Ola Electric, which is yet to turn a profit, slid for much of fiscal 2026, with rival Ather Energy and legacy players TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto overtaking.
According to recent brokerage reports, key steps required to turn around the current business trajectory include building a sustainable and stable servicing network, establishing a stable senior leadership team across domains, and improving product reliability in the upcoming industry product launch cycle.
Ola’s battery play
Ola's Battery Innovation Centre, a part of the cell subsidiary OCT, houses over 200 PhDs and researchers drawn from global corporations and has built a portfolio of close to 400 patents, with work spanning multiple cell chemistries including NMC, LFP, LMFP and LMR, as well as different form factors such as cylindrical, prismatic and solid-state cells. BIC, along with the gigafactory, makes Ola a rare full-stack player in battery storage systems.
Ola has already launched residential BESS systems 'Shakti' and has plans to enter commercial energy storage systems, as most of the electricity generated (from coal, solar, wind, hydro) flows straight to consumption, hurting optimal usage.
“We didn’t name the company Ola Auto; we named it Ola Electric, and our vision has always been to bring the whole energy storage supply chain into the market”, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal had said then.
Ola has also developed dry electrode manufacturing technology, considered one of the most significant innovations in lithium-ion battery production. Using this process, the company has developed the 4680-format Bharat Cell, which is now being commercially manufactured at the gigafactory and has been deployed in Ola Electric vehicles for more than six months.
The company is a recipient of 20 GWh allocation under the government's Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Production Linked Incentive scheme, positioning it among the key players building domestic battery manufacturing capacity
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