CCPA Demands Ola Provide Additional Documents As A Third Warning Comes The Startup’s Way

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has communicated with Ola Electric for the third time over its ongoing investigation of 10,000 consumer complaints. This is the same complaint list that Ola Electric claimed had solved 99.1 per cent of it, However, that hasn't sat well with the CCPA. After issuing notices over service deficiency and misleading advertisements, the third notification has asked for more documents, the nature and details of which have not been divulged. 

Ola Electric had earlier tried to fight these notices by objecting that the officer who was issuing these notices was not an authorised figure. He was neither a Director nor an Additional Director, which didn’t qualify him to issue such notices. The court quashed this by stating that the officer held the rank of a Senior Director, and had been legally directed by the Director General to conduct the investigation. 

Furthermore, when Ola Electric tried to argue that submitting these documents could harm the company’s reputation. The court assured by directing the Additional Solicitor General, representing the CCPA, to not make any public statement. Ola Electric now has six weeks to present these documents, post which the court will further make its assessment. 

2024 has not been ideal for Ola so far. It saw the brand lose its maximum share in the electric two-wheeler space. Bajaj and TVS with its solid network and reliable service centres started to enjoy the popular sentiment compared to Ola’s. Such was the public grievance against Ola’s service centres, that it had to hire bouncers to keep people away. 

And even while Ola managed to close 2024 on a bit of a high by expanding from 800 showrooms to 4000 showrooms in one day. Bhavish Aggarwal’s enthusiastic post on X for the same was intercepted by SEBI on the grounds of violating disclosure norms. Due to this Ola’s shares are also taking a toll. The latest warning has caused Ola’s shares to fall by 2.93 per cent further, and at ₹73.42, it is down by ₹2.23 on the BSE. 

However, things couldn’t be brighter for Ola in the product’s end. The upcoming Auto Expo 2025 will give the Bengaluru-based EV manufacturer the perfect platform to showcase its new products. This would include the Ola S1 Z and Gig scooter. The former will be an all-new affordable electric scooter with a dual-swappable battery onboard. The latter is the brand’s first B2B offering and also supports the swappable battery capacity. Alongside, the Ola Roadster range of electric motorcycles will also be on display at the Bharat Mandapam.