BluSmart

What did it do?

BluSmart was a Gurugram-based ride-hailing company operating a fleet made up entirely of electric vehicles, and it was promoted as India's first all-electric shared mobility platform. Customers booked rides through its Android or iOS app. The company competed with Uber, Ola and Rapido in the Delhi capital region, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Dubai.

Why did it shut down?

BluSmart did not buy its cars; it leased them, and one of its lessors was Gensol Engineering, a listed company run by the founders. According to SEBI's interim order of 15 April 2025, of the 977 crore rupees Gensol borrowed between 2021 and 2024 for 6,400 electric vehicles to be leased mainly to BluSmart, only 567 crore rupees went on buying 4,704 vehicles; at least 400 crore rupees were either unaccounted for or withdrawn by the founders. SEBI barred Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi from holding management roles at Gensol and from accessing the capital markets. The order came a few weeks after BluSmart had defaulted on bond payments and staff had been told salaries could not be paid. On 17 April 2025 the company suspended all ride bookings.

The story

On 15 April 2025, India's market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), issued an interim order against Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, the founders of the listed Gensol Engineering. Two days later BluSmart, the electric taxi company the same brothers had founded, suspended all ride bookings. Promoted as India's first all-electric shared mobility platform, the company had effectively ceased to exist within a matter of days.

BluSmart was founded on 14 January 2019 by Anmol Singh Jaggi, Puneet Singh Jaggi and Punit K Goyal. That same month a partnership with Mahindra brought the first electric vehicles onto the platform. In September 2019 it raised a USD 3 million angel round led by JITO Angel Network and the investment office of the actor Deepika Padukone. In 2021 it partnered with Jio-bp on charging infrastructure, and in 2022 it signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Motors for 10,000 electric vehicles. In July 2024 another round followed: USD 24 million, with participation from responsAbility Investments, the family office of the cricket star MS Dhoni and Sumant Sinha, founder of ReNew.

BluSmart did not buy its own cars; it leased them. One of the lessors was Gensol, run by the founders. According to SEBI's interim order, between 2021 and 2024 Gensol borrowed 977 crore rupees from IREDA and Power Finance for 6,400 electric vehicles to be leased mainly to BluSmart, yet only 567 crore rupees of that went on buying 4,704 vehicles. SEBI said that at least 400 crore rupees were either unaccounted for or withdrawn by the founders, and noted that the money had funded personal spending such as the purchase of a luxury flat. SEBI barred the Jaggi brothers from holding management roles at Gensol and from accessing the capital markets. These findings rested on an interim order and did not amount to a final judicial ruling.

The order did not come out of nowhere. A few weeks earlier BluSmart had defaulted on bond payments, and Anmol Singh Jaggi had emailed staff to say salaries could not be paid because of financial constraints. On 17 April rides stopped, and customers were given 90 days to reclaim their wallet balances.

The BluSmart case shows that even an ambitious climate mission cannot paper over opaque flows of money between related companies.

Lessons for founders

• If companies under the founders' control lease to and borrow from one another, open those arrangements to independent audit; related-party transactions are where trust breaks most easily.
• In a vehicle- or equipment-heavy model, report to investors, asset by asset, what every loan has been turned into.
• Late salaries and bond defaults are warning signs that arrive before regulatory scrutiny; at that point, strengthen management with an independent team.

Sources

1. BluSmart (Wikipedia)
2. India's BluSmart, rival of Uber, suspends operations after co-founder probed (Reuters, 2025-04-17)
3. Gensol and BluSmart promoter Anmol Singh Jaggi diverted EV loans to purchase a DLF Camellias flat: SEBI (Moneycontrol, 2025-04-16)
4. EV ride-hailing company BluSmart raises $24 million in funding (The Economic Times, 2024-07-15)

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