Bhavish Aggarwal pledges Ola Electric shares to secure loan for Krutrim Data Centre

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has pledged a portion of his shares in Ola Electric as collateral for a loan given to Krutrim Data Centre.

Aggarwal has pledged 1.10% of his stake in Ola Electric as part of a non-disposal undertaking to secure debentures issued by Krutrim Data Centre Private Limited, according to an exchange filing.

The pledge, which comprises 48,353,967 shares, represents 3.65% of Aggarwal's total holding in Ola Electric, which currently stands at 30.02% of the company's equity share capital. The pledged shares are worth about Rs 450 crore based on Wednesday's closing price of Rs 93 per share.

Under Securities and Exchange Board of India regulations, Aggarwal's shares are locked-in, meaning they cannot be sold without prior approval. The non-disposal undertaking further restricts the sale of the pledged shares until the debentures are repaid.

YourStory had earlier reported that Krutrim SI Designs spent Rs 134.86 crore for research and development in chip venture Silicon, datacentre arm Krutrim Cloud, and Applied AI​.

The AI company said Krutrim Cloud is set for a Q1 FY25 launch. Krutrim also plans to expand its data centre capacity, focusing on reaching a 1-gigawatt (GW) capability by 2028 through quarterly expansions.

In February 2024, Krutrim announced the development of three chip families tailored to various AI and computing tasks: Bodhi for AI, Sarv for general computing, and Ojas for edge processing.

The company invested Rs 1.5 crore in a trial project to test advanced cooling methods to reduce electricity use in data centres. “We are exploring different cooling methodologies such as liquid immersion servers and DLC servers for efficient cooling, which will result in energy conservation,” it said in a filing.

In its inaugural financial year, Krutrim—India's fastest unicorn—reported no revenue from operations and a total loss of Rs 2.84 crore.

According to the standalone financial statement, an interest income of Rs 3.05 crore in FY24 from bank deposits slightly offset these initial expenses. The company also noted it anticipated the loss as it set the groundwork for future revenue streams.