New Delhi: When BluSmart Mobility launched in Delhi-NCR in 2019 with a fleet of all-electric cabs, it quickly became a disruptor in the clean mobility industry. The cabs were clean, reliable, and environmentally friendly. But now the Gurugram-based ride-sharing startup is facing serious trouble.
A recent crackdown by the stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has not only dealt a blow to the company but also cast a shadow on India’s larger ambitions to expand electric vehicles in its transport system.
On Tuesday, SEBI barred Gensol Engineering Limited (GEL) promoters—who are also the co-founders of BluSmart—Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, from holding any directorship positions in the company. It also prohibited them from accessing the market. In its interim order, SEBI alleged that the brothers took loans for purchasing EVs for BluSmart but diverted the funds for personal use, including buying luxury apartments in Gurugram.
Initial findings showed that Gensol took loans worth Rs 978 crore from finance companies, including the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC), between 2021 and 2024. Of this, Rs 664 crore was taken for purchasing 6,400 EVs to be leased to BluSmart.
Gensol was also set to contribute around 20 per cent equity, amounting to nearly Rs 830 crore, for the EV purchases.
The news may have disappointed customers, but clean energy and mobility experts said the charges against BluSmart relate to financial misconduct, not a failure of EV technology.
Amit Bhatt, managing director for India at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), called it a minor blip in India’s EV transition.
“It does not seem like these isolated charges against BluSmart will have any impact on the EV transition work that India is trying to drive,” Bhatt said.
He said that the EV mobility service in India has become a fiercely competitive market, and the BluSmart story only shows that only people with good intentions and quality service providers will be able to survive going forward.
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Hit for clean mobility, safe transportation
When Parminder Singh, founder and CEO of Kampd—a communities platform focused on building AI-powered spaces—got to know about the charges against BluSmart, he was disappointed.
He said that over the last few years, his senior parents had come to depend only on BluSmart for travelling.
“My elderly parents in Delhi have an unwavering faith in BluSmart. They refuse to keep a car and driver, saying, “BluSmart hai na,” he posted on X.
My elderly parents in Delhi have an unwavering faith in BluSmart. They refuse to keep a car and driver, saying "BluSmart hai na." Whenever they have to go somewhere and I offer to arrange a premium car service I trust, they respond, "BluSmart hai na. Rental kar lenge."
I don't…— Parminder Singh (@parrysingh) April 16, 2025
When it launched operations in Delhi-NCR in 2019, BluSmart was up against giants like Uber and Ola, who were already ruling the cab service market in the region. But this homegrown startup gave what customers were missing—clean cabs, safe, reliable travel and a sense of environmental consciousness.
It did not take much time for BluSmart to zoom past its competitors with its fleet of around 6000 cabs. The icing on the cake was the absence of a surge charge and a large fleet of women drivers, which also made this a trusted option for lone women riders.
Sahyadri Sharma, an engineer who travels between Gurugram and Delhi every day for work, said that BluSmart had become her reliable travel companion.
“I have ditched my car for Blu. I had bought a car only because the office cab took a long route, dropping everyone before finally reaching my residence. I would just pre-book a BluSmart on days I had to sit late. It was affordable and reliable,” Sharma said.
While the waiting time was slightly longer than Uber’s, the Jaggi brothers had promised to improve logistics to address this.
At a press conference in February, co-founder Anmol Jaggi said, “In ten years, everyone in India should be able to get a BluSmart EV cab within five minutes.”
But these big dreams did not take long to come crashing down.
Luxury condo, expensive gifts, ‘dodgy’ model
In a February 2025 exchange filing, the company said it had purchased about 4,704 EVs so far, at a total cost of around Rs 560 crore.
However, during its inquiry, SEBI noted a discrepancy of Rs 262 crore—between the expected deployment of around Rs 830 crore and the actual consideration of Rs 560 crore—that remained unaccounted for. This was over a year after the company availed its last tranche of financing.
SEBI’s analysis showed that once the funds were siphoned off in the name of EV purchases, the money was instead used to buy a luxury condominium, expensive gifts, and travel packages for the family.
Industry insiders said that while BluSmart was marketed as a disruptor, there were early signs of a flawed business model.
Vijay Amritraj, founder and CEO of Voila F9 Gourmet, said he was approached multiple times in early 2020 to invest in the company, but declined because he did not trust the business model.
“I was approached a couple of times in early 2020 to invest in BluSmart, but I passed. The business model looked dodgy right from the beginning. Nothing was straightforward. Looks like many well-heeled investors were taken for a ride,” Amritraj said.
India’s EV dreams
India has been pushing hard to expand electric vehicles in its transport fleet. While still far behind countries like the US and China, the government has committed to building the market through significant incentives to EV buyers.
Global market estimates show that in 2024, EVs held a share of about 2 per cent of all cars sold. However, according to the government, the target is to increase this share to around 30 per cent by 2030. The government plans to make this happen through infrastructure development, subsidies, and financing plans.
Bhatt said that EVs have become the focus of governments across the world, and India is also following suit.
“We are doing well in transitioning to EVs in the two- and three-wheeler segment, and also the bus segment. Where we are lagging is promoting EV adoption in the private car segment. With better incentives, we will be able to bridge this gap,” Bhatt said.
He added that many startups and mobility companies are now entering the EV space.
“In China, for instance, many private players are coming into this market. The market is competitive but also immensely rewarding,” he said.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)