Ola’s ride-hailing arm is running out of road. Its market share has fallen from 45% in 2018 to barely a quarter today, its valuation has collapsed by four-fifths, and restive investors are once again exploring exit options.

In October 2024, some of them even sounded out rival Rapido about a possible merger, according to a long-term venture-capital partner, who is also an investor in the company.

The talks went nowhere.

That’s partly because Aggarwal and a few others were opposed to a buyout, said one of the three investors The Ken spoke with. The founder’s focus is largely on turning Ola Electric, the EV-making entity, profitable first.

Massive investments have gone intoOla ElectricOla Electric Raises INR ~3,200 Crores to Scale Up EV Business and build India’s first Gigafactory for Cell Manufacturing Ola Cell GigafactoryGigafactoryOla's manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu that produces batteries for its EVs and FuturefactoryFuturefactoryOla's AI-powered manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu that produces electric scooters, and Ola Electric just started producing scooters using its indigenously developed batteries. On 30 September, the company’s tech arm even announced plans to raiseET AutoOla Electric arm to raise ₹877.6 crore via preference shares to strengthen EV ecosystem nearly $100 million. A lot is at stake.

As far as Ola Consumer is concerned, people close to Aggarwal said the founder has “neither the bandwidth nor the money” to take the company public. He wants to maintain the “status quo” until the water finds its own level, they added.

But Ola is a business hugely dependent on discounts—else, it risks losing monthly active users. So, to maintain the status quo, it could erode its cash surplus of Rs 1,540 crore in FY24 quickly, according to a May reportS&P GlobalANI Technologies Downgraded To 'CCC+' On Return To Cash Burn; Outlook Negative by ratings and analytics agency S&P Global.