BluSmart’s Betrayal: A Scandalous Collapse of India’s EV Dream

By Chetna Gill

BluSmart Mobility, once hailed as the golden child of India’s electric vehicle revolution, has crashed spectacularly, leaving a trail of broken promises, stranded riders, and furious investors. Launched in January 2019 in Gurugram by Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal, and Puneet Singh Jaggi, the company seduced urban India with its clean, punctual, all-electric cabs and courteous drivers. It raked in $3 million from angel investors like Hero MotoCorp and Deepika Padukone’s office, scaling to 8,500 EVs and 5,800 charging stations by 2025, with a reported revenue of Rs 390 crore in FY24. Yet, beneath this polished facade, a grotesque financial scandal festered, orchestrated by the Jaggi brothers through their company, Gensol Engineering. Exposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on April 15, 2025, their reckless greed has obliterated BluSmart, revealing a cesspool of mismanagement and betrayal that shames India’s startup ecosystem.
BluSmart’s ascent was deceptively dazzling. It rolled out hourly rentals, in-app wallets, and partnerships with Tata Motors and Jio-BP to expand its fleet and charging network. By 2022, it had invaded Bengaluru, and in 2023, it pocketed $25 million and $42 million in funding rounds, with Mayfield India cashing out for Rs 32 crore to CEO Anmol Jaggi. In January 2024, a Swiss firm, ResponsAbility, tossed Rs 25 million for charging infrastructure, followed by a Rs 200 crore raise in July. BluSmart flaunted plans to power its 6,000 cabs with Tata Power’s solar energy and even launched a premium EV limousine service in the UAE. By September 2023, it claimed a Rs 400 crore annual revenue run rate, boasting 1.45 crore rides and 10,000 driver partners. This glittering empire, however, was built on a foundation of lies, propped up by the Jaggi brothers’ shameless plundering of Gensol Engineering.
Gensol, founded by the Jaggis in 2007, morphed into BluSmart’s EV leasing arm, supplying most of its fleet. Sebi’s interim order laid bare the brothers’ vile exploitation, accusing them of treating Gensol like a personal “piggy bank.” Between 2021 and 2024, Gensol borrowed Rs 978 crore from public lenders like IREDA and PFC, with Rs 664 crore meant to buy 6,400 EVs for BluSmart. Instead, only 4,704 vehicles were purchased, leaving Rs 262.13 crore unaccounted for. The Jaggis siphoned off millions for personal extravagances, routing funds through shady entities. In September 2022, Gensol funneled Rs 97 crore—Rs 71 crore from an IREDA loan and Rs 26 crore from internal accounts—to Go-Auto, a linked car dealer. Go-Auto swiftly transferred Rs 50 crore to Capbridge, a related party, which then paid Rs 42.94 crore to DLF for a luxury apartment in The Camellias, where flats start at Rs 70 crore. Other loot funded a Rs 26 lakh golf set, personal travel, credit card bills, and transfers to family—Rs 6.20 crore to Anmol’s mother, Jasminder Kaur, Rs 2.98 crore to his wife, Mugdha Kaur Jaggi, and Rs 1.13 crore to Puneet’s spouse, Shalmali Kaur Jaggi. Sebi’s verdict was scathing: the promoters ran Gensol “without regard for shareholder interest,” looting public funds with brazen impunity.
The consequences were catastrophic. Credit agencies ICRA and CARE slashed Gensol’s ratings to junk in March 2025, citing loan defaults and falsified debt records. Sebi banned the Jaggis from securities markets, froze Gensol’s stock split, and ordered a forensic audit. The brothers slunk away, resigning from Gensol, followed by independent directors Arun Menon, Harsh Singh, and Kuljit Singh Popli. Menon’s resignation letter dripped with contempt, noting his unanswered pleas for clarity on Gensol’s debt: “I had tried reaching you to seek clarity on the debt position of the company, and had also offered assistance to reduce the interest cost through a debt restructure route. While you had messaged me that you would call back, it never progressed.” Gensol’s collapse gutted BluSmart, which relied on its leased EVs. By April 17, 2025, BluSmart’s app went dark in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, with users locked out and bookings halted. The company issued a pathetic excuse, claiming “temporarily closed bookings” and promising refunds within 90 days if services didn’t resume—a hollow pledge from a sinking ship.
BluSmart’s workers and drivers were left in the lurch, with March salaries unpaid. Anmol Jaggi’s email to employees was a masterclass in evasion, admitting “current cash flow constraints” while vowing to clear dues by April’s end: “Due to current cash flow constraints, there will be a short delay in processing salaries. However, we want to assure you that all dues will be cleared within April itself.” This was cold comfort for employees betrayed by their bosses’ greed. Meanwhile, whispers of a desperate pivot surfaced. Reports in March 2025 suggested Uber was eyeing BluSmart’s carcass, with shareholders reportedly approving a plan by April to morph BluSmart into Uber’s fleet supplier. This last-ditch gamble reeks of futility—BluSmart’s tarnished name and shattered trust make it a liability, not an asset. Its once-loyal customers, now stranded, are unlikely to forgive the company that abandoned them.
The BluSmart debacle is a grotesque indictment of India’s startup culture, where hype and hustle often trump ethics and accountability. The company’s eco-friendly veneer masked a rotten core, with the Jaggis’ avarice dismantling a venture that could have redefined urban mobility. Their looting of public funds—meant to fuel India’s green future—for personal luxuries is not just fraud; it’s a betrayal of the nation’s trust. Sebi’s crackdown, though belated, exposes the rot, but it cannot undo the damage. Investors who poured millions into BluSmart, drivers who depended on it, and riders who believed in its mission have been fleeced by promoters who valued mansions over integrity. The resignations of board members and the Jaggis’ ouster are mere theater—too little, too late to salvage a company that’s now a byword for disgrace.
What’s left for BluSmart? Its pivot to an Uber fleet supplier is a long shot, banking on a fleet tainted by scandal and a brand synonymous with failure. The company’s collapse poisons India’s EV sector, scaring off investors and undermining faith in sustainable startups. Yet, this fiasco could spur reform, forcing regulators to tighten oversight and startups to prioritize governance over growth-at-all-costs bravado. BluSmart’s story is a grim warning: no amount of innovation can survive leaders who treat their company as a personal ATM. As India dreams of a green future, it must purge the likes of the Jaggis—parasites who’d rather buy luxury flats than build a legacy. BluSmart’s fall is a tragedy, not just for its stakeholders, but for a nation that deserved better from its so-called visionaries.

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