Bhavish Aggarwal joins billionaire club as Ola Electric shares surge after stock market debut

Bhavish Aggarwal joined the billionaire club on Friday after sharesf Shares of Ola Electric Mobility Ltd rose 20%, marking a sea change in the fortunes of its founder.

The stock’s performance followed a subdued debut on the stock exchange. It gave Aggarwal, who owned 36.94% of the company’s shares, a net worth of Rs 12,104 crore (about $1.44 billion), earning him a place among India’s billionaires.

Aggarwal, at the age of 38, sold 37,915,211 shares of Ola Electric at Rs 76 each, raising Rs 288 crore. Post-IPO, he retained 1,32,39,60,029 shares, which at the peak intraday price of Rs 89.25 per share, are valued at Rs 11,816 crore.

The list of Indian billionaires is led by Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, whose net worth is $109 billion and $105 billion respectively. Other notable Indian billionaires in the world in the Bloomberg Billionaire Index include Mahendra Choksi and family, Rakesh Gangwal, Benu Bangur, Samir Mehta and Sudhir Mehta.

Despite the upbeat stock performance, Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president, research at Mehta Equities Ltd, issued a warning to investors.

He said the initial success of the IPO did not necessarily reflect the long-term prospects. Tapse pointed to potential risks stemming from the company’s weak financial health and possible negative cash flows in the future. He advised that only those willing to take the risk should hold on to their shares for at least two to three years.

Earlier in the day, Ola Electric made a flat offer, debuting at Rs 76, the same issue price. Initially, there were concerns about a potential discount offer, but the shares traded at a minimal discount of 0.01% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The IPO, which took place between August 2 and 6, was priced at Rs 72-76 per share. It managed to raise Rs 6,145.56 crore, including fresh sale of shares worth Rs 5,500 crore and offer for sale (OFS) of up to 84,941,997 shares.

The issue was subscribed 4.27 times. Qualified institutional bidders (QIBs) subscribed 5.31 times, non-institutional investors 2.40 times and retail investors and employees 3.92 times and 11.99 times, respectively.

Founded in 2017, Bengaluru-based Ola Electric Mobility focuses on manufacturing electric vehicles and key components like batteries, motors and vehicle frames at its Ola Futurefactory.