Gensol misses May payment for loan on BluSmart cabs: Report

India Today

a day ago

Gensol Engineering, promoted by two of the founders of electric mobility firm BluSmart, has missed a payment of about Rs 4 crore to its pass-through certificate (PTC) holders this month, reported The Economic Times (ET). The last successful repayment was made in April, said people familiar with the matter. Gensol had raised funds by issuing PTCs, which were offered to retail investors on the online platform Grip Invest. PTCs are loans given in exchange for an underlying asset, in this case, vehicles that run on the BluSmart platform.The loans were to be repaid using the cash earned by these electric cabs. But after BluSmart shut down its cab services and ongoing talks with Uber and other fleet operators failed to move ahead, repayments became uncertain.Grip Invest founder Nikhil Aggarwal confirmed the missed payment as quoted in the report. He said Gensol had raised a total of Rs 5.6 crore through the PTCs. So far, 56% of the principal has been repaid, but an amount of Rs 4.04 crore is still pending.The loans were secured against 76 electric vehicles. These vehicles are no longer in operation, as BluSmart has stopped its services.On May 29, the Delhi High Court passed a final order, giving possession of these vehicles to the lessor, Vriksh Advisors, a subsidiary of Grip Invest. The court also allowed Vriksh to sell, operate or lease the vehicles. Aggarwal told ET that the vehicles have been inspected and found to be in good condition.He said Vriksh Advisors is now working on setting up charging stations and is in talks with fleet operators to re-deploy these vehicles on ride-sharing platforms.However, an industry insider pointed out that even if the vehicles begin running again, the terms of the original PTC agreement may change. He explained that revenues, commissions and pricing would differ on other platforms, and so the repayment plan would also need to be adjusted.Sources told ET that Vriksh Advisors is trying to find the best buyer or operator for the vehicles, in the hope that proceeds from the lease or sale will help repay the pending loan amounts.'People invested in BluSmart bonds and PTCs because they believed in the cab service, which had a good brand image, and they were also drawn by the high returns,' one investor told ET.According to a credit rating report issued by Care Edge Ratings on Tuesday, the bonds were issued in 2023, were due to mature in 2027, and offered a return of 13.6%.ET had earlier reported on April 21 that many BluSmart investors were expecting defaults on the bonds they had purchased through platforms like Yubi and Centricity. BluSmart had issued over Rs 100 crore worth of bonds over the past year. Of this, investors said that more than Rs 80 crore worth of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) are still due for repayment.These troubles come as Gensol Engineering's promoters, brothers Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, are under investigation. They are accused of diverting company funds for personal use. BluSmart has already stopped operations, and Gensol's bank accounts have been frozen following orders from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Ahmedabad.The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda), a government-run lender, said last week that it has moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Delhi against Gensol Engineering and its arm Gensol EV Lease, over a default of about Rs 729 crore. Ireda had earlier also filed an insolvency case against Gensol.This crisis began after market regulator Sebi launched a probe into Gensol Engineering following a stock manipulation complaint it received in June 2024. Sebi's investigation revealed that the Jaggi brothers had allegedly used loans meant for buying electric vehicles for personal expenses.Tune In
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