Ola Cabs stops ride-hailing operations in international markets, to focus on India business

Ridesharing company Ola Cabs is shutting down its international operations in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia to focus on Indian markets and expand its electric vehicle fleet.

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company said it is seeing rapid growth in its ride-hailing business in India. "The future of mobility is electric - not just in personal mobility, but also for the ride-hailing business, and there is immense opportunity for expansion in India," an Ola spokesperson said.

"With this clear focus, we've reassessed our priorities and have decided to shut down our overseas ride-hailing business in its current form in the UK, Australia and New Zealand," it added.

Ola tells drivers in Australia to stop operating

ANI Technologies, which operates under the Ola brand name, started its operations in Australia and New Zealand in 2018. The company had informed drivers about the abrupt closure and asked them to "destroy any and all Ola materials, stickers and labels, and copies of Ola permits you may have in your possession", the Australian Financial Review reported.

Ola's consolidated net loss narrowed from ₹1,522 in financial year (FY) 2022 to ₹772 crore in the fiscal 2023. The consolidated revenue from operations surged 48% to ₹2,481 crore in FY23.

The company's mobility business in India recorded a profit of ₹250 crore in FY23 after a loss of ₹66 crore in the previous fiscal.

"In FY23 we challenged ourselves to not just grow and scale, but to do this profitably. While our revenue continued to grow at a strong clip of 58%, we became EBITDA positive in the India mobility business. This is one of the few consumer internet businesses in India to be profitable at this level. We believe that mobility is largely an underpenetrated category in India currently," Bhavish Aggarwal, MD, ANI Technologies had said.