Version 1: Ather Energy makes its first-ever profit, and it is just Rs 1.26 crore

The electric scooter maker sold 93,211 scooters from July to September 2026 and finally earned a little more than it spent.

Picture a scooter company that sold more than 93,000 scooters in three months, took in over Rs 1,500 crore, and still had only about Rs 1 crore left at the end. That sounds tiny. But for Ather Energy, that small number is the biggest news in its life.

On Monday, 26 October 2026, the Bengaluru electric scooter maker said it made a net profit of Rs 1.26 crore in the July to September quarter. It is the first quarterly profit Ather has ever reported. A year ago, in the same three months, it had a loss of Rs 154 crore.

First, what is a profit and what is a loss?

Think of a samosa stall. In a week, the stall sells samosas worth Rs 1,000. It spends Rs 700 on potatoes, oil and flour, Rs 200 on rent and Rs 50 on gas. What is left, Rs 50, is the profit. If the stall had spent Rs 1,100 instead, it would have a loss of Rs 100. It would have to pay that from savings or borrow it.

Ather's quarter looked just like a stall that only just made it. Its total income was Rs 1,527 crore, and its total spending was Rs 1,526 crore. That thin gap is the profit. Small, yes. But the stall has finally stopped paying from its own pocket.

The big numbers, made simple

Revenue is all the money that comes in from selling things, before any costs are taken out. Ather's revenue from selling scooters and services rose 63% to Rs 1,464 crore, from Rs 899 crore a year earlier. The other Rs 62 crore of income came from outside the main business, which is called other income.

Two bars comparing Ather's revenue: Rs 899 crore in July to September 2025 and Rs 1,464 crore in July to September 2026 — Same three months, one year apart: revenue up 63%.

The company sold 93,211 electric two-wheelers in the quarter, 42% more than a year ago. Its biggest cost was material, mainly battery cells and other parts, which came to Rs 1,160 crore.

What is EBITDA, and why do people keep saying it?

EBITDA is a long word for a simple idea. It is what a business earns from its daily work before paying interest on loans, tax, and the slow wear and tear of its machines. Go back to the samosa stall. EBITDA asks: did the samosas sell for more than the potatoes, oil, staff and rent cost? It leaves out the loan for the big frying pan.

Ather's EBITDA was Rs 74.2 crore this quarter, against a negative Rs 90.7 crore a year earlier. That is about 5 paise of operating profit on every rupee of sales. It is the second quarter in a row that this number has been positive. The final profit is much smaller because the costs EBITDA leaves out, like the wear and tear of factories and machines, still have to be paid.

How did Ather finally get here?

Ather was founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. It builds its own scooters and software, and runs a charging network called Ather Grid. Until this quarter, it had never reported a quarterly profit. Three things changed this time.

Four steps: pre-orders double, 93,211 scooters sent out, more money per scooter plus extras, Rs 1.26 crore profit — Four steps from loss to a small profit.

1. Far more people wanted one. Enquiries, meaning people asking about a scooter, rose 109% to about 10 lakh. Pre-orders, meaning people who booked before getting the scooter, more than doubled to 1.8 lakh.

2. Each scooter brought in more money. The average price Ather got per vehicle rose to Rs 1,33,507 from Rs 1,20,183 a year ago. The company said its product mix (selling more of the costlier models) and its pricing choices helped.

3. Money beyond the scooter. Extras such as charging, accessories, spare parts, service and paid software plans made up 15% of revenue, up from 12% a year ago. Think of a bat shop that also earns from grip tape, bat repairs and coaching. Each extra sale needs no new factory.

The company also said rising petrol prices and worries about E20 petrol, which has 20% ethanol mixed in, pushed more people towards electric scooters. Its new scooter, the Konarc, launched in August on a base design meant to be easier and more efficient to make.

The hard part: costs are still rising

This was not an easy quarter. Ather said aluminium, copper, plastics and memory chips all got costlier. Copper is in demand for AI data centres, and memory chips are being pulled towards AI too. Supply trouble in West Asia and China also hit some parts.

There is another catch. Electric two-wheelers made up 11.6% of all two-wheelers sold in India in September 2026, a record. But Ather's own share of the electric market slipped to 15.1% this quarter from 17.2% a year ago. The whole market grew 82% in the quarter, while Ather's own registrations grew 60%.

Why build more factories now?

Ather says it simply cannot make scooters fast enough. Its Hosur factory in Tamil Nadu ran at 98% of its full capacity at peak times. Capacity means the most a factory can make, like the number of seats in a bus. At 98%, the bus is almost full, and people are left waiting at the stop.

So the company's board approved Rs 122 crore of new spending on two plants. About Rs 58 crore goes to Hosur, to add 75,000 scooters a year by December 2026, taking it from 4.2 lakh to 4.95 lakh. About Rs 64 crore goes to its new plant at AURIC in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. That plant starts making scooters in phases from December 2026, with room for 5 lakh a year, rising to 6.5 lakh by the July to September quarter of 2027.

A number counting up to 11.4 lakh scooters a year, with bars rising from 4.2 lakh — Planned yearly capacity across Hosur and AURIC.

Put together, Ather expects to be able to make about 11.4 lakh scooters a year across both plants.

What the boss said

Co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta said in the company's statement that Ather delivered "a strong quarter" despite surging commodity prices and supply chain disruptions, and that demand at Ather had more than doubled from a year ago.

For context, Ather's share price closed 14% higher on the day of the results. That move says how people felt on one day. The real story is in the business: more buyers, more money per scooter, and costs finally covered.

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Why this matters to you

For anyone saving up for a first scooter, this is a sign the electric scooter business is growing up. A company that loses money every quarter has to keep raising cash just to keep going. A company that covers its costs can spend on new plants, like Ather is doing now. Ather's profit is tiny, but it shows that selling electric scooters in India can now pay for itself.

As it was first published

Ather Energy makes its first-ever profit, and it is just Rs 1.26 crore