Explainer: How the Gensol-BluSmart saga unfolded
A startup once hailed as India’s electric mobility pioneer now finds itself embroiled in a financial scandal. With ghost electric vehicles, real estate splurges and forged documents, the Gensol-BluSmart saga exposes how two brothers allegedly gamed the system — and how public funds meant for green goals went up in smoke.
The story so far
BluSmart, once touted as India’s clean, green answer to Uber, has abruptly suspended operations. The trigger? A probe by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) into its affiliate, Gensol Engineering Ltd (GEL), has revealed a web of financial misconduct. At the centre of the row are Gensol promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, accused of misusing public funds meant for EV procurement to purchase luxury assets and finance personal investments.
Operating over 8,000 electric taxis across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru, BluSmart had positioned itself as a key player in India’s EV ecosystem. But with operations frozen and thousands of drivers left in limbo, the company’s fall from grace has been swift.
Diversion of funds
SEBI’s investigation uncovered a complex network of shell firms and dubious financial flows.
Public funds rerouted: Rs 71.39 crore from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), meant for EV purchases, was routed via Go-Auto Pvt Ltd to Capbridge Ventures LLP, a related-party entity.
Luxury real estate: Rs 42.94 crore was used to acquire a luxury apartment at Gurugram’s ‘The Camellias’, registered under a firm owned by the Jaggis.
Personal indulgences: Rs 25.76 crore was spent by Anmol Singh Jaggi on personal luxuries, including a Rs 26 lakh golf set and a Rs 50 lakh investment in Ashneer Grover’s startup, Third Unicorn.
Fictitious EVs: Of the 6,400 EVs allegedly procured using Rs 977.75 crore in loans from IREDA and Power Finance Corporation (PFC), only 4,704 were delivered. The rest? Paper entries with no physical trace.
Whose money was it
This wasn’t private capital. The funds were taxpayer-backed green energy loans from government institutions like IREDA and PFC, meant to promote clean mobility. The Jaggis, through forged invoices and inflated procurement costs, allegedly treated this public money as their own, channelling it into private holdings.
The fallout has been brutal for retail investors. Gensol’s shares have plunged 91 per cent from their October 2023 peak of Rs 2,527 to Rs 116.54. In the current year alone, the stock is down 84 per cent, with trading frozen at the lower circuit post-SEBI’s order. From around Rs 96 in early 2022, the stock had seen a meteoric 2,600 per cent rise — now proven to be unsustainable.
SEBI intervention
The alarm was raised in June last year via a whistleblower complaint alleging price manipulation and fund diversion. Months of investigation unearthed fake invoices, falsified repayment records, and suspicious intra-group transfers. SEBI’s response came in early 2025 — an interim order barring both the Jaggi brothers from board roles and capital markets.
Soon after, Gensol’s independent director Arun Menon resigned, citing discomfort over mounting debt and opaque governance practices, further underlining systemic failures.
Why it matters
This scandal reveals alarming weaknesses in corporate governance and regulatory oversight. Despite their due diligence roles, credit rating agencies and auditors failed to raise red flags early. Public money was siphoned off under the guise of clean energy — and retail investors are now left counting their losses.
The SEBI order noted a “complete breakdown” of internal controls, with promoters treating a listed entity like a family-run outfit.
Growing scam list
From Harshad Mehta’s stock scam (1992) and Satyam fraud (2009) to DHFL’s banking swindle (2020s), the Gensol-BluSmart case is the latest entry in India’s long list of corporate scams. What binds them is not just financial damage, but the audacity with which the perpetrators abused public trust and regulatory blind spots.
As India charges ahead in its startup and clean energy journeys, the lesson is clear: ambition without accountability leads to collapse. Transparency isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.
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