Indian ride-hailing company BluSmart suspended its operations last month, prompting lenders and leasing firms to begin recovering dues by selling or leasing the electric vehicles they had financed. These lenders include banking, non-banking financial corporations, investment platforms, climate focused financers and other individuals of high net worth who now plan to offload 1500 to 2000 electric vehicles.Several lenders have already taken possession of the vehicles, while others are still in the process of reclaiming assets.The company had shut operations indefinitely after it failed to secure fresh funding, amid serious allegations of financial misconduct involving its founders, as per sources familiar with the matter, quoted by ET.
Alternative riding services emerge as takers
Delhi-based all-electric taxi service Evera and Uber-backed Everest Fleet have emerged as key contenders to acquire or lease chunks of these EVs. Evera has already added 300 of the repossessed cars to its fleet and is currently in talks to lease an additional 800–1,000 vehicles. Everest Fleet has also initiated discussions but has yet to finalise a deal.“There is a section of lessors who are in the business of leasing these cars, and they will find takers…but financial institutions like banks that want to recover their money want to sell these vehicles,” a source familiar with the matter told ET, adding “several small fleet operators are also being approached.”Commenting on the ongoing recovery and redeployment efforts, Nimish Trivedi, co-founder and CEO of Evera, said, “we are busy getting these assets back on the road, and multiple lenders are having discussions with us,” adding that they have finalised many agreements and are currently looking at strengthening airport operations with this fleet.Siddharth Ladsariya, founder and CEO of Everest Fleet said, “as we look ahead, we will continue to take a measured approach aligned with operational viability and sector wide progress.”Before Sebi’s clampdown, Gensol Engineering had also signed a deal to sell 2,997 EVs to Chennai-based Refex Industries. However, the deal fell through on March 28, due to the conditions requiring the EVs to remain listed on BluSmart and disagreements over lease rentals.Officially, the companies attributed the cancellation to “evolving commitments”.
