India’s electric mobility hopeful BluSmart is pulling out of its ride-hailing business. Instead, it’s hitching its future to Uber — starting with 700 to 800 cars — after burning through cash and watching top brass walk out the door.
After nearly six years trying to carve a niche in India’s cutthroat mobility market, BluSmart is closing shop on its own service and will operate instead as a fleet provider to Uber. The startup, which had once positioned itself as a cleaner, greener alternative to Ola and Uber, is now in damage-control mode.
Burn Rate Meets Breaking Point
This wasn’t exactly out of the blue. BluSmart’s finances have been under pressure for a while now. Insiders say the company was bleeding more than ₹20 crore per month. That’s roughly $2.4 million — just burning away, month after month.
For a company already leaning heavily on founder funding and external capital, the clock was ticking.
One insider put it bluntly: “The money just wasn’t going to last forever.”
The result? A full-scale pivot. The firm will now wind down its own platform and start integrating with Uber in phases. The first leg involves 700 to 800 electric cars making the switch.
And just like that, the startup that tried to take on the giants is becoming part of one.
Executive Exodus Raises Eyebrows
The sudden shift also triggered a major shake-up inside BluSmart. In the last few weeks alone, the top layer of leadership has all but cleared out.
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CEO Anirudh Arun
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CFO Tushar Garg
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CTO Rishabh Sood
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VP of Experience Priya Chakravarthy
The only one stepping up is Nandan Sharma, previously VP of Business & Operations. He’s now taking the CEO seat. But the word is, more exits might be around the corner.
And honestly, who can blame them? Restructuring at this scale almost always signals deeper problems under the hood.
Uber’s Quiet Power Move
Uber’s been watching BluSmart for a while now. Sources say informal talks about a possible acquisition started earlier this year, mostly centered on BluSmart’s all-electric fleet and infrastructure.
Uber Green — the company’s EV-focused service launched in India in 2023 — is in expansion mode. And fleet partners are key to that strategy.
BluSmart would’ve been a neat piece of the puzzle.
But cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi waved off those rumors, calling them “purely speculative and unfounded.” Still, industry watchers aren’t convinced. When a company transitions from operator to partner, and executives start exiting in droves, acquisition talks don’t seem that far-fetched.
For now, though, Uber gets what it wants: electric cars. Lots of them.
The Gensol-Refex Puzzle
BluSmart isn’t navigating this pivot alone. Its parent company Gensol Engineering — a solar EPC firm also led by Jaggi — is smack in the middle of a complicated, high-stakes deal.
Here’s what’s happening:
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Gensol is selling 2,997 EVs to Refex Green Mobility.
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Refex will lease those vehicles back to BluSmart.
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The deal transfers a ₹315 crore loan (around $38 million) from Gensol to Refex.
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That’s 34% of BluSmart’s total fleet (which stands at about 8,700 vehicles).
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But — and it’s a big but — the whole transaction still needs greenlighting from the government.
This isn’t a routine transaction. It’s more like corporate Tetris with debt, assets, and leasing contracts all being shuffled to keep the business breathing.
Who’s Still Betting on BluSmart?
Despite the shift, there’s no public sign of panic from shareholders. Founders still hold more than 25% of the company, and many early backers haven’t cut bait — at least not yet.
The Indian EV ride-hailing market isn’t an easy place to thrive. Ola’s EV push is on shaky ground. Uber’s EV ambitions are riding on the back of partners. And fleet operators like Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet, and Mo have kept a lower profile, choosing slow, measured scaling over flashy disruption.
A quick look at where BluSmart stands now:
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Monthly Cash Burn | ₹20 crore (~$2.4M) |
| Total Fleet | 8,700 EVs |
| Vehicles shifting to Uber | 700–800 (initial phase) |
| Vehicles being sold to Refex | 2,997 |
| Gensol Loan Handed to Refex | ₹315 crore |
| Year Uber Green launched in India | 2023 |
No one’s saying this move is the end. But it sure feels like the end of the beginning.
What Happens Next?
There’s no fixed timeline for when BluSmart’s ride-hailing app will be fully shuttered. Sources say it’ll happen “in phases,” but haven’t pinned a date yet.
Meanwhile, Uber continues pushing hard into the EV space, with plans to deploy 25,000 electric cars across India — and partnerships like this help fill that gap faster.
For BluSmart, it’s survival. For Uber, it’s scale. And for the industry? It’s one more reminder that building an EV startup is tough, even if your heart’s in the right place.
