Ola Electric has reportedly become the first Indian electric two-wheeler firm to bag Centre’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) nod, pipping several applicants which include Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor Company, and Bajaj Auto.

BT could not independently verify this development. 

Introduced in 2021, the PLI scheme is aimed at boosting local manufacturing of automotive technology products such as electric Vehicles. Makers are offered incentives in a bid to make their products affordable for the Indian market.

Ola Electric, according to reports, received the PLI nod in a record time of less than 4 months. In a written reply to Parliament in December, Union minister for heavy industries Mahendra Nath Pandey said the Centre will start crediting incentives under the ₹26,000 crore production-linked incentive scheme for automobiles and auto components from the next fiscal year.

Ola Electric is also the first EV company in India that’s planning to go public and the first automobile company to do so in nearly two decades since Maruti Suzuki (then Maruti Udyog) went public in mid-2003.

The firm plans to raise Rs 5,500 crore via new shares to back the expansion of Ola Electric’s cell manufacturing plant, repayment or pre-payment of debt by one of its subsidiaries, and investments in R&D.

Backed by Japan’s SoftBank and Singapore’s investment firm Temasek, the company was valued at $5.4 billion in a recent funding round, Reuters reported in September.

Ola Electric dominates India’s electric two-wheeler segment, with a 32% market share and competes with TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Ather Energy, according to data from the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.

Ather, backed by Singapore’s GIC, is also planning an India listing and has a market valuation of $739.4 million, according to data from investment tracker Tracxn.

Ola Electric’s IPO comes at a time when India has seen a record 213 IPOs this year, including from Tata Technologies and JSW Infrastructure, while the benchmark indexes have scaled record highs.