Indian e-scooter maker Ola Electric's $734 million IPO fully subscribed

By Nandan Mandayam and Kashish Tandon

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Ola Electric's $734 million initial public offering (IPO) was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding, reaching the target amid a sharp sell-off in global equity markets.

The SoftBank-backed company's IPO, the first by an electric vehicle maker in India and also the country's biggest this year, has received bids worth about $447 million, 1.06 times the shares on offer, exchange data showed on Monday.

Ola's IPO was 35% subscribed on the first day of bidding. There is one more day of bidding to go.

More than 150 companies have raised nearly $5 billion on India's booming stock market so far this year, almost double the amount raised in the same period of 2023, according to LSEG data.

Although Indian equity markets have touched fresh highs in recent months, they logged their worst day in two months on Monday amid a global sell-off.

Ola, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, will use a major chunk of the IPO proceeds to invest in its in-house cell manufacturing which will be used to power its own scooters.

This initiative, an India-first, would boost cost efficiency at the currently loss-making company.

The IPO has also drawn interest from big institutions including Nomura, Norges Bank and a few domestic mutual funds, which bid for $2 billion worth of shares, six times the amount set aside for them.

Its aggressive push into e-scooters has already disrupted the market, forcing a pivot by incumbents such as TVS, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto.

($1 = 84.1461 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Nandan Mandayam in BengaluruEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)