Ather's Profit Turn Meets Capacity Test
Updated: 19 minutes ago
Katrela Ventures Daily Update · Investment, M&A and Business Innovation Digest · 26 October 2026
Key takeaways
Ather Energy reported Q2 FY27 profit after tax of ₹1.3 crore versus a ₹154.1 crore loss a year earlier, on revenue of ₹1,464 crore.
Ather announced 2.25 lakh units of additional annual capacity at Hosur and AURIC for about ₹122 crore.
Senco Gold agreed to buy 68% of Melorra operator August Jewellery for ₹68 crore; the Defence Acquisition Council cleared about ₹2.12 lakh crore of proposals.
Funding: Paar Autonomy raised ₹10 crore, ReplyAll ₹9.7 crore and Bucketlistt ₹7.6 crore.
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📩 #Read the full update below.
01. TOP STORIES
Senco Gold to Acquire 68% of Melorra Operator August Jewellery: Senco Gold disclosed over the weekend that it has agreed to acquire a 68% stake in August Jewellery, which runs the Melorra brand, for ₹68 crore through fresh equity issued in multiple tranches. Completion is targeted by February 2027, after which Senco Gold and a promoter group entity will together hold 79%, making August Jewellery a Senco Gold subsidiary.
L Catterton Makes Strategic Investment in InMobi-Backed Glance: Consumer-focused investment firm L Catterton, which manages about $40 billion in equity capital, announced a strategic investment of undisclosed size in Glance, the AI-powered shopping platform led by Naveen Tewari, on 26 October. The investment is meant to support Glance's international growth, with a focus on the US, where distribution partnerships with Samsung and DIRECTV make its technology available on millions of devices.
Defence Acquisition Council Clears ₹2.12 Lakh Crore of Proposals: The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, granted Acceptance of Necessity on 26 October to capital acquisition proposals worth about ₹2.12 lakh crore for the Army, Navy and Air Force. Around 82% of the procurement is to be sourced from Indian industry, with approvals covering light multi-role helicopters, air defence systems, counter-drone systems and surveillance UAVs.
02. QUICK TAKES
Ather's Profit Turn Meets Capacity Test
Ecosystem Scale: ₹1,464 Cr Q2 FY27 revenue | ₹1.3 Cr Q2 FY27 net profit | ₹74.2 Cr Q2 FY27 EBITDA | 93,211 units Q2 FY27 volumes | 11.4 lakh units capacity by Q2 FY28 | ₹122 Cr expansion capex
Ather Energy reported a consolidated profit after tax of ₹1.3 crore for Q2 FY27 (July–September 2026) on 26 October, compared with a loss of ₹154.1 crore a year earlier and a loss of ₹51.1 crore in Q1 FY27. Alongside the results, the electric two-wheeler maker announced 2.25 lakh units of additional annual capacity across its Hosur and AURIC plants, at a capex of about ₹122 crore.
The operating numbers moved together. Revenue from operations rose 63% year-on-year to ₹1,464 crore from ₹898.9 crore, while volumes grew 42% to 93,211 units. Total income, including other income, rose 62% to ₹1,527 crore. EBITDA was ₹74.2 crore, the company's second consecutive EBITDA-positive quarter, for a margin of 4.9% on total income, an improvement of about 1,450 basis points over the same quarter last year.
Demand indicators ran ahead of output. Enquiries rose 109% year-on-year to about 10 lakh, pre-orders more than doubled to 1.80 lakh units, and the Hosur plant operated at 98% utilisation. The expansion raises Hosur's annual capacity from 4.2 lakh to 4.95 lakh units and the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar plant (Factory 3.0) from 5 lakh to 6.5 lakh units, taking combined installed capacity to about 11.4 lakh units a year by Q2 FY28. Two-thirds of the new capacity, 1.5 lakh of the 2.25 lakh units, goes to the Maharashtra plant. A separate ₹53 crore battery line is expected to be completed by Q3 FY28.
The quarter matters beyond one company. It shows a listed Indian EV maker reaching net profit at a scale of about 93,000 units a quarter, which shifts the discussion from whether electric scooters can earn money to how quickly makers can add capacity without diluting margins. Component suppliers, battery makers and contract manufacturers will read the expansion as a signal of the volumes they may be asked to support over the next two years.
The profit itself remains thin. At ₹1.3 crore, it is less than 0.1% of quarterly revenue, and the company was loss-making only one quarter earlier. With Hosur already close to full utilisation, sales growth in the coming quarters depends on new lines arriving on schedule, and a single profitable quarter is too short a record to show how margins behave if demand slows or input costs rise.
Katrela's Take
➢Ather's quarter signals that EV two-wheeler economics in India now depend on capacity and execution as much as on demand. For founders in EV components, batteries and manufacturing services, the expansion points to larger supplier volumes, while investors will watch whether a thin net profit holds as new lines add fixed costs. The opportunity is demand that is running ahead of output; the constraint is that capacity arrives in stages through FY28 while the main plant is already near full use. EBITDA margin, plant utilisation, pre-order conversion and capex delivery against timelines will decide the outcome.
For EV two-wheelers, which matters more now: margin per unit or capacity brought online on time?
03. FUNDING BRIEF
Paar Autonomy-a Bengaluru-based deep-tech defence startup building AI camera systems for drones and other unmanned platforms-has raised ₹10 crore ($1.1 million approx.) in a funding round led by AdvantEdge Founders.
ReplyAll-a Bengaluru-based D2C brand making performance wear and everyday apparel-has raised ₹9.7 crore ($1.0 million approx.) in a pre-Series A round co-led by Sadev Ventures and Atom XVII, with participation from ISV, Long View Ventures, existing investors Sparrow and Antler, and angel investors.
Bucketlistt-an Ahmedabad-incorporated travel-tech marketplace for booking experiences across India-has raised ₹7.6 crore ($0.8 million approx.) in a seed round led by Kairon Capital, with participation from Titan Capital, Divisa Family Office and Kunal Popat.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ather Energy profitable?
Ather reported a consolidated profit after tax of ₹1.3 crore in Q2 FY27, compared with a loss of ₹154.1 crore a year earlier and a loss of ₹51.1 crore in Q1 FY27.
How is Ather expanding capacity?
It announced 2.25 lakh units of additional annual capacity across its Hosur and AURIC plants at a capex of about ₹122 crore, with 11.4 lakh units of capacity targeted by Q2 FY28.
What decides the outcome for EV two-wheeler makers, according to Katrela Ventures?
EBITDA margin, plant utilisation, pre-order conversion and capex delivery against timelines. Demand is running ahead of output, but capacity arrives in stages.
This edition was first published in the Katrela Ventures Daily Update newsletter on LinkedIn. Subscribe to get the digest every morning.
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