Bhavish Aggarwal vs Kunal Kamra - Ola Shares Tank By 9%

Aggarwal and controversies are synonymous with one another. The latest incident is a bit entertaining as it involves popular comedian Kunal Kamra. Such was the impact of this debate that Ola Electric’s share price dropped by 9% on the first day of trading after this public outburst. Here’s what happened, and how.

The setting for the clash between these two individuals was X (formerly known as Twitter) and it all started after Kamra quoted a tweet shared by Aggarwal in which the Ola GigaFactory was featured. In his tweet, the popular comedian stated that service for Ola scooters has been dismal and a lot of customers have been facing issues. He also shared a picture of many dust-covered Ola S1 scooters lying outside a service centre.

Aggarwal didn’t respond to the first two tweets, but later seemingly lost his patience and remarked that Kamra’s posts were paid for, with an intent  to defame Ola Electric. Aggarwal also declared that if Kamra is so concerned about Ola scooter complaints, he should join the company’s service team to help find a solution. Aggarwal further added that Kamra would be paid much better than what he earns through his comedy shows, and also promised that service issues will be cleared soon.

Although this exchange started out light-hearted, Kamra then retaliated with some personal remarks, which didn’t go down well with Aggarwal, and an onslaught of further arguments ensued. It  was sad to see two popular figures lash out at each other with personal remarks in the public domain.

All said and done, what Kamra highlighted is the absolute truth. Many Ola customers have had a difficult time with post-sales service. The responses to his tweets are filled with customers venting their angst against Ola Electric.

The impact can also be seen in Ola’s sales figures, which have been sliding at an alarming rate, although it still remains the market leader. In the past, Ola has put the blame on consumers, for example when the trailing link suspension on the S1 started failing, even though the updated S1 range featured a telescopic fork. So our suggestion to Bhavish Aggarwal and Ola Electric is to address customer issues, make the service experience better, and win public trust back on priority, preferably before diversifying into new product lines, in this case, electric motorcycles.