Ola Electric shares slip 9% on BSE; here is what is worrying investors
Ola Electric share slips in trade. Standup comedian Kunal Kamra raised concerns on e scooters on X; Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal alleged paid tweet
 "Ola Electric shares slip 9% on BSE; here is what is worrying investors")
Ola Electric share price lost as much as 9.4 per cent on the BSE, in Monday's intraday trade, and registered an intraday low of Rs 89.71 per share. Including today's loss, Ola Electric's stock has fallen for a third consecutive session, slipping 12.6 per cent during the period.
At around 11:20 AM, Ola Electric share price was down 7.21 per cent at Rs 91.91 per share. In comparison, the BSE Sensex traded 0.28 per cent higher at 81,456.57 around the same time.
In September, the Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer reported the lowest monthly sales this year as its dominance declined with emerging competition from smaller players and servicing network challenges.
Ola Electric sold 23,965 vehicles in September 2024, recording a month-on-month (M-o-M) decline for the second consecutive month. Its falling M-o-M sales has seen its market share decline for five straight months to 27 per cent in September, from over 50 per cent in April, data showed.
During this period, TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto narrowed their sales gap reporting market share gains for five and three straight months, respectively. READ MORE
Slowing sales at Ola, whose prices have often undercut the market, pose further challenges to the company's financial results. It is yet to turn a profit.
Over the last year, Bajaj has boosted the dealership count for its Chetak e-scooters from around 100 to over 500, as of June. Ola's dealership count has only risen from 750 to 800.
The concern has now spread across Twitter, rebranded as X, where stand up comedian Kunal Kamra has questioned Ola's service by tweeting a tweet from Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola, which had a picture of the Ola Gigafactory. READ MORE
Kamra said in the tweet, "Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers' lifeline…@nitin_gadkari is this how Indians will get to using EVs? @jagograhakjago any word? Anyone who has an issue with OLA electric leave your story below tagging all."
Aggarwal alleged that Kamra was being paid to talk wrongly about the Ola.
"Since you care so much @kunalkamra88, come and help us out! I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding the service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon," the tweet read.
On August 9, 2024, Ola Electric IPO shares listed flat at Rs 75.99 on the BSE and Rs 76 on the NSE, against the issue price of Rs 76. However, post-listing, Ola Electric shares rallied 17.77 per cent to Rs 89.50 on the BSE.
Since its listing Ola Electric shares have gained 8.6 per cent against Sensex's rise of 25 per cent.