Ather rides to profit; Pronto's US AI play

Ather Energy swung to profit in the July-September quarter. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ Sahamati defers new fee model
■ AI efficiencies shield Q2 IT margins
■ Apple India’s new revenue stream

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Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta

Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy turned profitable in the July-September quarter and posted a surge in revenues as well.

Financials:

• Net profit: Rs 1.26 crore versus a loss of Rs 154.07 crore a year earlier.
• Revenue from operations: Rose 63% on-year to Rs 1,464.24 crore.
• Ebitda: Turned positive at Rs 11.3 crore, against an Ebitda loss of Rs 133 crore a year earlier.

Market reaction: Ather Energy shares surged 19% on Monday to an intraday high of Rs 1,643.85 on the BSE after the results were announced. The stock closed at Rs 1,574, up about 14% over the previous close.

Source: Google Finance

Tell me more: The results follow the August launch of its mass-market scooter Konarc, priced Rs 1 lakh onwards. Ather also announced a capex of Rs 122 crore to expand the total annual capacity at its Hosur and Chatrapati Sambhajinagar plants to about 11.45 lakh units by Q2 FY28.

“We delivered a strong quarter, with robust topline growth and a positive bottomline, despite surging commodity prices and supply chain disruptions. Underpinning this is a shift to electric two-wheelers that is now structural and playing out across India,” cofounder and CEO Tarun Mehta said.

Also Read: Ather Energy gets Irdai licence, will distribute and service insurance policies

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Anjali Sardana, CEO, Pronto

Anjali Sardana, founder of instant househelp startup Pronto, has set up a physical artificial intelligence (AI) venture, Provision Labs, sources told us.

Details:

• The US-based venture will focus on collecting data to train and test AI systems designed to perform real-world tasks using robots and other machines.
• The San Francisco-based company will work with developers building AI models for robotics and other real-world applications.
• Sardana will serve as the chief executive of both Pronto and Provision Labs.

Why US? “Provision Labs has been set up in the US to access AI talent there…in the same manner that several Indian AI and deeptech companies are putting up outposts in Silicon Valley to hire talent,” one of the sources said.

Big picture: This follows Pronto’s launch of Verified, a premium booking service that allows customers to opt for household jobs to be recorded using head-mounted cameras worn by service professionals. Provision Labs will look beyond household chores to source training data from workers across different industries and labour markets globally.

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Sahamati, an industry body for the NBFC-Account Aggregator (NBFC-AA) ecosystem, has postponed the rollout of its new account aggregator fee model to December 1 from November 1, per a circular seen by ET.

Driving the news: The circular, dated October 26, said the decision was taken “keeping in mind the upcoming festive season and requests for postponement.” Implementation and operational details will be communicated through subsequent circulars.

Industry feedback: Industry participants had flagged that implementing the changes involved legal reviews, agreements between multiple institutions, and changes in systems to collect and distribute payments.

Standard rates: The new fee model, announced earlier in October, sets standard rates for basic record sharing, based on statement length and monthly usage, replacing bilateral agreements between parties. These fees will be split among banks providing records, account aggregators sharing them, and Sahamati.

Also Read: New account aggregator pricing may force lenders to redraft all tech pacts

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Seven of India’s nine largest IT services firms either improved or held their operating margins sequentially in the second quarter, as AI-led efficiencies helped cushion revenue pressure from the technology and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty in the US and Europe.

For instance:

• HCLTech’s margin rose 131 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 18.2%.
• Tech Mahindra’s increased 40 basis points to 14.8% and Wipro’s climbed 50 basis points to 16.5%
• LTM’s edged up 10 basis points to 15.6%, and LTTS’ expanded 60 basis points to 16.3%.
• TCS margins held steady at 24%, while Coforge maintained 16%.

Investing savings into AI: Companies are using savings to fund AI capabilities, acquisitions and partnerships as uncertainty weighs on customer spending.

• “We will continue to invest the gains out of our operational efficiency to expand our AI advantage by investing in capabilities, IP, and AI talent,” HCLTech chief executive C. Vijayakumar said.
• Infosys attributed 20 basis points of support to its Project Maximus cost programme.
• Wipro CFO Aparna Iyer said operational improvements will continue to kick in through the quarters.

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Apple has begun reporting software development revenue in the country, with its recently established subsidiary, Apple Operations India, generating Rs 650 crore in FY26.

New revenue streams: The new company began commercial operations in FY25. It provides manufacturing support, procurement assistance, and other global support services to Apple group companies.

• Apple Operations India’s total revenue from these activities exceeded Rs 1,400 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 318 crore in FY25.
• Net profit nearly quadrupled to Rs 103 crore from Rs 28 crore, per RoC filings.
• Revenue from manufacturing support nearly doubled to Rs 520 crore in FY26.

Global support: The filings show that about 97% of the subsidiary’s business was undertaken for Apple’s global operations, including Apple Operations International and Apple Inc.

The emergence of these services as revenue-generating activities in FY26 also points to India’s growing role within Apple’s global ecosystem.

Also Read: Apple India revenue grows 32% to cross Rs 1 lakh crore mark in FY26