Ola Electric has been under the limelight for a very long time and not for good reasons. The company has been caught up in an ocean of customer complaints. But what seems to have troubled the brand more is legal actions faced due to malpractices by Ola dealerships. In Maharashtra, the crackdown on Ola dealerships has deepened.
As per a recent report, Maharashtra Government has instructed RTO Department to shut down all the Ola Electric dealerships that have been operating without a valid trade certificate. As per this report, around 75 Ola Electric showrooms in India operating without trade certificates have been shut down and 192 scooters have been seized. Let’s take a closer look.
83% Of Inspected Stores Lacked Trade Certificate
The Bengaluru-based electric mobility solutions provider, Ola Electric, has found itself in the middle of turmoil with Maharashtra Government. The state’s joint transport commissioner has issued a show cause notice to Maharashtra RTOs in an email dated 16th April 2025, widening its crackdown on Ola Electric.
As per a recent report, RTOs have inspected around 146 Ola Electric stores in Maharashtra. 121 of these inspected dealerships or experience centres failed to produce a trade certificate. Which is 82.87% of the inspected dealerships. 75 of these have been shut down so far and 192 electric scooters have been seized in the process.
Instructions were to shut down any Ola dealership operating under an RTO in Maharashtra state without a valid trade certificate. A showroom or a vehicle distributor needs to have a trade certificate from necessary authorities so that the vehicles sold through their dealership can be registered in the state.
75 Ola Electric Showrooms Shut Down
This could be the reason why there was a discrepancy in sales in February 2025 where Ola claimed around 25k units sold, while only 8,647 of them were registered. This was followed by a slew of inspections in the month of March 2025 by the RTO Department in key Maharashtra cities like Pune and Mumbai.
Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik mentioned that many of Ola’s experience centres were found to be operating without a trade certificate. Some of them were even found sharing a trade certificate among themselves. Maharashtra Transport Department served a notice to Ola Electric and the company replied that it was in the process of applying for trade certificates across all the stores in Maharashtra.
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