Ola Electric, India’s top e-scooter manufacturer, saw a 9% drop in its stock price on Monday after a public dispute between its founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, and comedian Kunal Kamra.
The controversy started when Kunal Kamra posted a photo to his 2.4 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), showing several dusty e-scooters outside an Ola showroom. This image led to a wave of complaints from other unhappy customers.
Despite holding a 27% share in India’s e-scooter market, Ola has seen its stock price drop by 43% since its strong debut in August. The company has faced growing criticism on social media due to poor service quality, and analysts are concerned about its shrinking market share, which has fallen for five straight months amid increased competition and service issues.
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Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at Wealthmills Securities, said that customer complaints on social media can hurt a company, and this dispute will likely have a short-to-medium-term impact. Ola did not comment on the situation.
What was the controversy?
It began when Kunal Kamra shared an image online showing Ola Electric scooters covered in dust outside a dealership, likely waiting for service. In response, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal accused Kamra of being paid to post negative content about the company on X.
Aggarwal challenged Kamra, saying, “Since you care so much, Kunal Kamra, come and help us out! I’ll even pay more than what you got for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career.”
Kamra fired back, calling Aggarwal an “arrogant, substandard pr*ck.” Aggarwal responded by saying, “Did it hurt? Come to the service center, there’s a lot of work. I’ll pay better than your flop shows.” He once again invited Kamra to work at an Ola Electric service center.