Ather CEO's witty retort to Nikhil Kamath’s 'sh*t marketing' jibe: 'Isko discount...'

This exchange follows Kamath's recent strategic move to expand his investment portfolio by acquiring a major stake in Ather Energy.

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, recently took to social media to light-heartedly critique the marketing efforts of Ather Energy, a Bengaluru-based electric scooter manufacturer. Kamath humorously shared that he had bought an Ather scooter at full price without receiving a discount, despite Ather's reputed shortcomings in marketing but praised the product's quality.

Kamath’s post read, “Every one of us has pluses and minuses, Ather has sh*t marketing but great product (sorry Tarun). PS: I bought this scooter at MRP, Tarun (Mehta) didn’t even give me a discount.”

#Patriotism is a different thing to different people, mine today seems to be to dream of young Indian products and entrepreneurs killing it inside and outside India. Enough of the foreign franchise is better, clothes, jewellery, food, auto, content, shoes, and just about… pic.twitter.com/trYDpJnujj

— Nikhil Kamath (@nikhilkamathcio) July 8, 2024

In response, Ather Energy’s CEO Tarun Mehta took to X, formerly known as Twitter, with a witty comeback. He shared a popular meme featuring Pakistani cricket fan Sarim Akhtar, suggesting the marketing team’s reaction to Kamath’s comment. Mehta wrote, “Marketing team be like ‘isko discount hi de dena chahiye tha’ (we should’ve given him a discount).”

Marketing team be like "isko discount hi de dena chahiye tha" https://t.co/3t9xZjsJropic.twitter.com/iwHklg8uhV — Tarun Mehta (@tarunsmehta) July 9, 2024

This exchange follows Kamath's recent strategic move to expand his investment portfolio by acquiring a major stake in Ather Energy from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, a development reported by the Economic Times in April.

Kamath, aged 37, has seen a remarkable rise in his net worth, soaring from $1.1 billion in 2023 to $3.1 billion in 2024, according to the Forbes Billionaires List. Known for his support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India initiative, Kamath has been vocal about encouraging Indians to favour local brands over foreign ones in various sectors.

“Enough of the foreign franchise is ‘better’, clothes, jewelry, food, auto, content, shoes, and just about everything else,” Kamath emphasised in a recent social media post, reinforcing his advocacy for indigenous products and industries.