By Aditya Kalra
(Reuters) -India’s top product certification agency will investigate e-scooter maker Ola Electric’s deficiency in service standards and product issues, India’s consumer affairs secretary told Reuters on Thursday.
Last month, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) sent Ola Electric a notice seeking an explanation from the SoftBank-backed company after the consumer rights agency received an unusually high 10,000 complaints.
Ola, India’s top e-scooter maker, responded that it had resolved 99.1% of the complaints.
After reviewing that response, the CCPA has now asked the Bureau of Indian Standards to conduct a detailed investigation into the matter, consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said on Thursday.
Ola Electric did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
The complaints were mostly for “minor” issues, Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal said on an earnings call last week.
“Two-thirds of it actually are just minor issues like loose parts or customers unfamiliar with the software used,” Aggarwal said.
The rising complaints and ensuing regulatory scrutiny have cast a shadow on the e-scooter maker, following its stellar market debut in August.
Ola Electric’s shares are down about 7.6% from their listing price of 76 rupees. On the day, its shares were down about 1%, while auto stocks had risen 0.5%.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
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