Ola has reported its
first operating profit of Rs 89.82 crore for 2020-21, even as the ride-hailing
company's revenue declined 65 per cent to Rs 689.61 crore amid COVID-19 induced
lockdowns.
As per regulatory
documents filed by ANI Technologies - the parent company of Ola - it had logged
standalone operating profit (profit before finance cost, depreciation,
amortisation and tax (EBITDA)) of Rs 89.82 crore in FY21 on a standalone basis,
while it had registered a loss of Rs 610.18 crore in the preceding fiscal year.
"ANI
standalone (mobility business) operating profit in the black with positive
EBITDA at Rs 8,982 lakh, improvement of 109 per cent on a year-on-year
basis...ANI standalone (mobility business) reported profit before tax (before
exceptional items) of Rs 7,629 lakh, wiping out its losses with an improvement
of more than 2x on a y-o-y basis," the regulatory documents stated.
The total loss for the
period stood at Rs 1,326.08 crore in FY21 on standalone basis, lower than loss
of Rs 1,714.62 crore registered in FY20.
Ride hailing business
accounted for a majority share of the consolidated revenue for the IPO-bound
company.
ANI Technologies, which
also has food delivery and financial services offerings, saw its operational
loss narrowing to Rs 429.20 crore in FY21, while revenue declined 63 per cent
to Rs 983.15 crore on a consolidated basis.
When contacted, an Ola
spokesperson said the company has been focused towards building a business with
strong operational efficiencies and improved unit economics "...and our
results today reflect just that.
"This will be
significant as we continue to build the New Mobility ecosystem for a billion
people in India."
Like many other sectors,
ride-hailing businesses were also adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
that confined people within their homes.
With offices shut and
minimal people like frontline workers being allowed to travel, cab aggregators
saw their revenues declining sharply last year.
In September, Ola
co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal had said the company's GMV (gross merchandise
value) had crossed pre-COVID levels, and the recovery from the second wave had
been three times faster compared to that after the first wave.
He had also noted that Ola
had added 10 million new users in 2020-21, and that the company is working on
onboarding more driver-partners, entering new cities, and building new products
to better serve mobility needs post-COVID.
In May last year, Ola had
laid off 1,400 staff from its rides, financial services and food business as
revenues declined 95 per cent in the preceding two months due to coronavirus
pandemic.
In its filing, Ola said 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," it added.
Ola said through Pisces
eServices Pvt Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company), it has made
significant progress in the food business in both distribution and enhancing
the product portfolio.
"Pisces has a wide
distribution through 40 active delivery kitchens in major cities, which
continued to be functional during the COVID-19 crisis.
"Pisces has built a
comprehensive portfolio of both curated and popular cuisines to achieve both
scale and coverage in the food segment," it added.
During the year, Ola
Financial Services Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of the company) had a turbulent year
with the impact of external factors on the lending environment in general and
the double impact on mobility business and its spillover to the Olamoney brand.
"OFS (Ola Financial
Services) successfully managed to control its risk and limit its exposure to
the worsening credit environment by taking proactive steps to reduce risk.
"OFS launched a slew
of new products and capabilities in both the lending and insurance businesses
and further deepened its partnerships with the leading merchants in the
ecosystem," it said.
The filing noted that OFS
will be expanding the insurance business internationally to support the
operations of the mobility business through innovative insurance products
designed for the UK and Asutralia-New Zealand markets.
OFS will be launching new
capabilities to the "pay later" instrument to make it more appealing
to the target audience, it added.
"OFS is expanding its
suite of products by launching new lending products in the form of two-wheeler
loans, four-wheeler loans and personal loans to offer a comprehensive financial
product ecosystem to the customer.
"Through these growth
avenues OFS will generate regular and sustainable financial results and will
have a positive impact on your customers, stakeholders and the ecosystem,"
the documents said.
Ola is reportedly looking
at raising $1-1.5 billion (Rs 7,324-10,985 crore) via an initial public
offering and is expected to file the DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus) in the
December quarter.
According to the RoC
filing, Ola has been able to reduce its expenses both on consolidated (65 per
cent) and standalone (75 per cent) basis across segments, including advertising
and sales promotion.
The company also shared its
financial documents for FY20 on RoC.
Ola had narrowed its
consolidated loss to Rs 2,208.23 crore in FY20 from Rs 2,592.93 crore in FY19.
On a standalone basis, the losses expanded to Rs 1,714.62 crore in the year ended March 31, 2020 from Rs 1,160.27 crore in the preceding fiscal.
The company saw its total
income rising 2.2 per cent to Rs 2,845.33 crore on a consolidated basis, and by
4.8 per cent to Rs 2,259.29 crore on standalone basis in FY20 as compared to
the previous financial year, according to the documents that were accessed by
market intelligence firm Tofler.