Zerodha began with a team of five individuals and now has around 1,300 workers.
When Zerodha first joined the market in 2010, it pioneered numerous innovations in the Indian brokerage sector.
Bengaluru-based online discount brokerage company Zerodha has sought to remove all barriers to trading. The term Zerodha is derived from the words “zero” and “rodha,” the Sanskrit term for obstruction. With nearly 8.47 lakh active clients, the company — founded in 2010 by brothers Nithin and Nikhil Kamath — overtook longtime market leader ICICI Securities to become India’s biggest brokerage firm, demonstrating that the efforts of the Kamath brothers paid off. The platform processes two to three million trades per day, making it the world’s largest retail brokerage company.
When Zerodha first joined the market in 2010, it pioneered numerous innovations in the Indian brokerage sector. It is the first ‘discount brokerage company’ in India. In contrast to full-service brokers, discount brokers don’t provide their clients with research services like buying or selling suggestions. It transfers the cost savings from not having a full-fledged study team to customers in the form of a low brokerage. Experts at the time considered Zerodha’s policy of charging a flat fee of Rs 20 for every transaction, regardless of size and without charging a brokerage fee, to be quite disruptive in the market. Other brokerages used usually charge a percentage of the traded amount in contrast to that.
The company began with a team of five individuals and has since grown to include around 1,300 workers. Speaking with Moneycontrol, Nithin Kamath said that credibility and openness are essential for any financial services company. Initial scepticism towards Zerodha’s discount broking model came from the fact that retail investors, who are frequently unsure about what stocks they should buy or sell, were not provided with any research services. This is where the emphasis on community building helped.
“In our first year, we opened 3,000 accounts. When the cost of any product or service is less, people automatically question the quality. That was a big challenge for us right from the start. We were able to build a community around us, which helped in the long run. Even today we don’t spend any money on advertising,” Nithin Kamath said.
To combat this, Zerodha introduced Varsity, a learning tool that has rapidly gained popularity. Additionally, it operates TradingQ&A, a lively forum where traders and investors can talk about potential stocks. The interactive journal “Z Connect” is another option.
Read all the Latest Business News here
Leave a Reply