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“Can one tweet wipe out ₹3,500 Cr in just two hours?” Thyrocare Founder doubts as Ola share price dropped after Bhavish-Kamra spat

Recently, the founder of Thyrocare questioned the drastic fall of Ola's share price after an online quarrel started between Bhavish Aggarwal and Kunal Kamra.

By Ishita Ganguly
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Ola founder

Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal

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Indian billionaire entrepreneur and Thyrocare founder Dr. A. Velumani recently raised an important question on X (formerly Tweeter) about the drastic fall of Ola share price after an online squabble started between Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra.

“Can one tweet wipe out ₹3,500 crore in just two hours? Or is it something deeper?” Velumani asked on the public platform. 

What happened between the Ola Founder and the celebrity comedian

The war of words started with Kunal Kamra posting a photo of Ola’s electric scooters at a service center, scorning at their quality and asking whether Indian consumers were being treated fairly. 

The comedian did not stop at this and went on tagging the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in his post. At this, the Ola Founder fired back, accusing Kamra of a “paid tweet” and offering him a job to help fix the issues while taking a jab at the comedian’s ‘failed’ career. 

The exchange of words between the comedian and the entrepreneur quickly went viral, reportedly Ola Electric’s stock plunged after this.

The aftermath of the online quarrel

The company’s shares tanked 6.18%, falling to ₹85.21, wiping out ₹3,625 crore from the company’s market cap. 

This resulted in a significant drop from its August 20 high of ₹157.53, with Ola Electric’s valuation now dipping below $5 billion for the first time since its stock market debut.

What followed next...

Incidentally, RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka also got himself involved in the ongoing social media spat between the Ola CEO and the popular comedian.

Tagging Aggarwal, Goenka humorously said, "If I have to travel close distances, I mean from one 'kamra' to another, I use my Ola," while sharing a picture of himself on an Ola electric vehicle.

The Bhavish-Kamra conflict added to a series of troubles for Ola with the company already dealing with innumerable customer complaints

The National Consumer Helpline has registered over 10,000 complaints about Ola e-scooters in the past year. Furthermore, the Central Consumer Protection Authority recently slapped the company with a show-cause notice, citing alleged misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices. However, Ola Electric disclosed that the notice would not affect its operations and it would respond within the allotted 15-day time frame.

In the current scenario, Dr. Velumani’s tweet has added to the ongoing debate. People are discussing how a single social media post can add to injury with underlying service problems creating massive financial consequences for a company.

Also read: Ola, Uber & other bigshots score 0 in Fairwork India’s gig workers ratings (startuppedia.in)