Electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy reported a widened loss for the financial year 2021-22 due to expenses growing faster than revenue. The company’s loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, was Rs 344.1 crore, compared to a loss of Rs 233.3 crore in FY21. Ather generated a total income of Rs 413.9 crore, up from Rs 83.3 crore in FY21, but expenses increased 2.4 times to Rs 718.2 crore in FY22. The cost of materials consumed, which includes raw materials and components used in production, was the largest expense category for Ather in FY22.
Despite supply constraints on essential components that affected the electric vehicle sector from 2020 to 2022, Ather achieved significant sales growth. However, the company could only fulfill 50% of the total orders it received during the year. Ather also revealed a shift in its approach from directly owning experience centers to adopting a dealership model to reduce costs and facilitate faster expansion. This marks a departure from the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model previously employed by both Ather and Ola Electric. Currently, 31 of Ather’s 34 experience centers are managed by dealers.
For FY23, Ather forecasts positive momentum.
“The last quarter of FY22 and the month of April 2022 give early signs of the positive momentum for the Company. With a healthy and stable cost structure and the above strengths of the brand, [Ather] is well poised to achieve breakout growth in FY23,” the company said.
