A Sunday afternoon spat on X led to a significant drop in Ola Electric's stock when markets opened on Monday.

The company, known for its ride-hailing app and a major player in India's e-scooter market, faced backlash after CEO Bhavish Aggarwal publicly criticised stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra over a post on X addressing issues with Ola's electric scooters.

Aggarwal’s outburst drew far more than bad press as Ola Electric’s shares fell by nine per cent on Monday.

Reuters reported: “After a stellar stock market debut in August, shares in Ola have dropped 43 per cent from their all-time high as it faces growing anger on social media over its service, and analysts flag concerns about its market share, which has fallen for five months in a row due to growing competition and service concerns.

"HSBC analysts said in a note last month that they visited multiple Ola service stations and most appeared overwhelmed by the service requests and were struggling to provide adequate service quality," it said, adding they had a “huge backlog”.

The markets, however, sway by sentiment rather than research. Aggarwal’s rush to rubbish the "anti-establishment" comedian created that sentiment, for which Kamra described him as an "arrogant, substandard...."

It started with Kamra posting an image of Ola scooters collecting dust at a service centre, saying: “Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers' lifeline….” He tagged transport minister Nitin Gadkari and the consumer affairs ministry.

Aggarwal responded: “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 service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon.”