Automaker Ola Electric’s IPO Is Putting Modinomics to the Test
The Indian firm’s successful stock-market debut had a lot to do with state incentives. They have been fickle in the past and can be again.
Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal is reliant on fickle government incentives.
Photographer: Abeer Khan/Bloomberg
For the first time in two decades, a major Indian automaker has made a stock-market debut, and an impressive one at that. The continued success of the electric-vehicle manufacturer will depend critically on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s industrial policy.
Ola Electric Mobility Ltd. shares jumped 42% over their issue price in the first three trading sessions. The Bengaluru-based startup is being closely watched as a proxy for the country’s factory ambitions. Overshadowed by China’s global success, and its own prowess in technology services, can India revive its stymied manufacturing industry? Ola Electric would be an apt case study.