'Sh*t marketing, but great product': Nikhil Kamath on why he invested in Ather Energy

Nikhil Kamath also joked that he bought the Ather EV scooter last year at MRP because Tarun Mehta, CEO of Ather Energy, didn't give him a discount. (Image credit: Nikhil Kamath/X)

Billionaire investor Nikhil Kamath on Monday said that supporting young Indian products and entrepreneurs was a key reason why he decided to put his money on Ather Energy. The Zerodha co-founder had in April bought "significant" shares of the company from an existing investor in Ather Energy and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, reports stated.

"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," Kamath wrote on X.

Urging people to buy more from domestic manufacturers, he added, "Let us Indians buy more Indian brands, until one day non-Indians buy Indian brands. Every one of us has pluses and minuses, Ather has sh*t marketing but great product."

#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

On a lighter note, Kamath also shared that he had bought an Ather scooter at MRP last year because "Tarun (Mehta, CEO of Ather Energy) didn't even give me a discount".

"My story with Ather Energy began when I started being bullish on the EV sector sometime last year and found interesting insights," he said, adding that the Indian EV market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.4 percent to $117.78 billion by 2032.

Kamath also highlighted the Centre's target to make 30 percent of all new vehicles sold in the country to be electric.

'Enough of the foreign franchise is better, clothes, jewellery, food, auto, content, shoes, and just about everything else. Will pick great products with terrible marketing every time, sales I hope can be solved for easier than product," he said.