Comedians, punsters and meme makers are dishing out jokes with great relish at the expense of food delivery service firm Zomato during its IPO season. Not only has the Zomato IPO logged the highest number of retail applications, but it’s probably ousted ITC from its perch as the most joked about stock.

Comedian Atul Khatri tweeted: “Zomato’s IPO Valuation touches ₹60,000 crores. Next time Zomato delivery guy comes home – please ask him for a tip.”

A meme that really went viral was one that showed a crowded Mumbai local train with the inscription: “Zomato IPO is like Virar Local – people outside want to get in, people inside want to get out.”

The last few days, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook have been inundated with Zomato IPO jokes.

The start-up itself, known for its cheeky notifications, contributed to the humorous flood with its “ mere ko dhak dhak ho raha hai ” tweet. That in turn spawned a host of repartees from other brands – with Dunzo, Zerodha and even rival Swiggy chipping in. Kotak Securities piped up with “ Chill karo, hamare saath subah ki ChaIPO ”.

Meme fest & equities

But while Zomato’s public offering may have triggered off a veritable meme fest, the Indian bourses – be they bullish or bearish – have always inspired great humour. “Not sure, if I am trading better, or the market has stopped going down,” went one tweet by an investor recently when many a blue chip stock was on song.

Cricket and movies may be the biggest muse of meme creators, but the stock-markets are not far behind, if you follow the right handles.

Follow a few investors and you will soon come to speed on inside jokes about brokers and their favourite stocks – there are even parody accounts ribbing brokers who have their stock favourites, especially ITC. “ Utho ITC, Nifty 16,000 pahunch gaya hai ,” goes a viral tweet riffing on the the Salim-Anarkali series.

If Wall Street Memes is a thing, Dalal Street is not lagging behind. As one wit put it, “ Mumbai’s Dalal Street is the only place where people come in a BMW to take advice on how to make more money from those who come by local trains.”

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