Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath explains his decision to invest in electric vehicle (EV) maker Ather Ener and why, despite the brand’s shortcomings in marketing its products, he bet on it because of the consistent response it has been receiving from supporting players in the EV space.
Kamath shared his experience of buying an Ather Energy EV scooter last year.
“Everyone of us has pluses and minuses, Ather has bad marketing but the product is great (sorry Tarun). PS: I bought this scooter at MRP, Tarun (Mehta) didn’t even give me a discount,” Kamath joked in a post on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
“My story with Ather Energy began when I started following the EV sector closely sometime last year and came across some interesting insights.”
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Take a look at Nikhil Kamath’s Instagram post:
Nikhil Kamath said “Every time a good product with bad marketing will be picked up, I hope the solution is more easily the sales than the product.”
Promoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign, the Bengaluru-based entrepreneur emphasised his desire to see more and more Indians prefer buying Indian brands over foreign brands.
“Foreign franchises are vastly ‘better’ across categories like clothing, jewellery, food, auto, materials, footwear and almost everything else,” Nikhil Kamath said in a social media post.
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The billionaire had bought a significant portion of Ather Energy’s stake from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, according to an Economic Times report in April.
With a net worth of $3.1 billion, 37-year-old Nikhil Kamath is one of India’s youngest billionaires, according to the Forbes Billionaires List 2024. His net worth is projected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2023 to over $3 billion in 2024.