The Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT had admitted the solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm Gensol’s insolvency case on June 13 after the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) filed a petition alleging that the company defaulted on loans worth Rs 510 crore.
“We are exploring options to lease the cars so that we can operate them and generate revenue until the NCLT reaches a decision. We’ll assess the cars in different lots and make an offer accordingly,” said Evera’s cofounder and chief executive Nimish Trivedi.
Gensol initially evaluated an option of selling the cars, but Evera has instead proposed taking them on lease. The IRP, Keshav Khaneja, and the CoC are reviewing both proposals. Unless the idle vehicles are put back into use, their value could deteriorate, and they may become unserviceable.
Trivedi said the vehicles will be deployed for the company’s newly rolled out hourly rental service and that it plans to present a “very competitive” lease proposal to the NCLT. He added that the industry remains optimistic, noting BluSmart’s collapse was driven by governance problems rather than market conditions.
“The idea is to use those cars for these rental services as well, because there is a huge market to tap. Earlier, that option wasn’t available with us, but with the increased fleet, we can now offer it. We also plan to further strengthen this service and use it to cater to B2B clients,” he added.
Evera serves both B2C and B2B segments, with most of its B2C customers coming from the airport category, while its B2B clients are primarily corporates seeking a pickup and drop-off facility for their employees.
The company currently operates 500 electric vehicles (EVs) that were leased from BluSmart’s lenders, including banks and NBFCs, before BluSmart entered insolvency proceedings.
This was after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barred BluSmart cofounders Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi from accessing the securities markets and holding board positions over allegations of fund siphoning and document forgery in Gensol Engineering, which is closely linked to BluSmart.
In July, Gensol’s IRP advertised for bids from companies interested in taking 4,000 cars on a monthly lease. Khaneja did not respond to ET’s query.
According to Ritesh Prakash Adatiya, the IRP of BluSmart, the cars should be leased through BluSmart rather than directly by Gensol to avoid a deadlock during the resolution process.
“If the lease rights to the EV vehicles are no longer with BluSmart, the overall resolution of BluSmart Mobility as a business could be harmed. Having the rest of the assets but not the cars or the rights to them would be detrimental to the resolution process of BluSmart Mobility Limited,” said Ritesh Prakash Adatiya.
When operational, BluSmart had around 8,000 electric cars in its fleet. Close to 5,000 of the vehicles were owned or leased from lessors by Gensol Engineering — these were then leased or subleased to BluSmart. The ride-hailing company also owned a few hundred EVs.