Yulu has gone through a financial crises
The suspension of Yulu bike service during the pandemic led to many users losing their jobs. The company’s net worth declined by 35.16 per cent.
Yulu bikes are often used by delivery workers of Zepto, Swiggy and other delivery companies. Most of these delivery persons lost their jobs after Yulu halted its services.
“I left my job in Zepto and started to work in D-Mart since I had no vehicle to continue my job as a delivery person since Yulu centres were closed,” Mohamad Rihan, a delivery person,informed The Observer.
Omesh S, a delivery person with Zomato, said: “I have been using Yulu for more than a year now. Covid has been one of the hardest times in my entire life. It made me to leave my job as a delivery person. Yulu had closed its centres which made it harder to continue. After Covid (subsided), Yulu resumed their services. I applied for a job and Zomato allowed me to rejoin their company. It is good to be back.”
Two other delivery agents working for Zomato and Swiggy said they left their jobs as Yulu had decided to suspend its services at the peak of the pandemic.
Bengaluru’s 3,000 battery swap stations were shut down during the pandemic.
“Even though we have customers who wanted to use our bikes, we were instructed to stop doing battery swaps. It eventually led us to close our station. I went back to my native since I did not having any work to do,” said Hilal, who works at a Yulu battery swap station near the Sandal Soap Factory Metro station.
Krishna Swamy Nagaraju, a trafficconstable, said: “The government did not allow any private services like Yulu to function and to provide rental bikes to the citizens. At the initial stage, some Yulu bikes were seen here and there; but as time flew, people also stopped using these bikes as all battery swapping stations were closed.”
Yulu saw a financial crisis as all its services were suspended. According to the Tofler website, the net worth of Yulu Bike Private Ltd for the financial year ending March 31, 2021, decreased by 35.16 per cent, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) by 59.02 per cent, and total assets by 19.9 per cent.
However, Yulu denied this, insisting the company earned a profit. Ankit Taparia, marketinghead of the company,informed The Observer: “We didn’t face any loses.”
Bounce, another bike rental services, has seen similar fate. A report in The Economic Times said: “Shared mobility and EV company Bounce’s revenue fell 83% to Rs 14 crore for the financial year ended March 2021.”
vindhya.p@iijnm.org
