Indian ride-hailing company Ola picks Citigroup among banks for $1bn IPO

The Uber rival in July raised $500m from investors including Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek Holdings

Ride-hailing firm Ola would be joining a strong pipeline of Indian start-ups that are ready to tap the IPO market in the coming months. Rajat Gupta / EPA

India's ride-hailing start-up Ola has selected banks including Citigroup and Kotak Mahindra Bank to manage its Mumbai initial public offering that could raise about $1 billion, according to sources.

The company, backed by SoftBank Group and Tiger Global Management, has also picked Morgan Stanley for the listing, sources said. The start of based in Bangalore, could seek a valuation of more than $8bn in the IPO and could lodge a filing as soon as October.

The 11-year-old Ola would be joining a strong pipeline of Indian start-ups that are ready to tap the equities market for funds. Paytm, the country’s leader in digital payments, Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant controlled by Walmart, and digital education start-up Byju’s are also preparing for their share sales.

Details of Ola’s IPO including size and timeline could still change as deliberations are ongoing and more banks could be added. Representatives for Citi, Morgan Stanley and Ola declined to comment, while a representative for Kotak Mahindra did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ola currently partners with about 1.5 million drivers across 250 cities in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The Uber Technologies' rival in July raised $500 million from investors including Temasek Holdings and an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.