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Zerodha

Founded 2010 · Bengaluru · bootstrapped, no VC
👤 Nithin & Nikhil Kamath (Nithin traded from 17 and ran trading forums; he knew active traders' pain cold and priced Zerodha to fit it.)🌐 sitenithinkamath.substack.com𝕏LinkedIn

Two trader brothers with no ad budget built India's largest broker by pricing near-zero and teaching markets for free.

Will it work? · our read
Priced to win. But margins come mostly from retail options trading SEBI is now curbing; Nithin guides 30-50% lower revenue. The pricing was copyable; the 14-year trust was not.
01How the money moves
Trader opens a free account; equity delivery costs nothing
Options cost a flat Rs. 20 per executed order; intraday and futures cost 0.03% or Rs. 20, whichever is lower (about $0.24)
Millions of daily orders yield $1B revenue at 55%+ margin
02The numbers
$1BStatedFY24 rev, 55%+ margin
FY2024source: 8,370 crore
the sentence on the page--> Zerodha hits Rs 8,370 Cr revenue with over 55% profit margin in FY24 *{flex-shrink:0;width:100%;max-width:100%;padding-right:calc(var(--bs-gutter-x)/ 2
$1B
FY24 revenue
55%+
net margin, FY24
7.5M
active clients
🔒
You have the verdict. Members get the work behind it.
  • The CENTS scorecard — where it's strong, where it's soft
  • The founder's key move, and the counter-move
  • How it could die — the evidence, and how sure we are
  • The case against our own call
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SourcesSources last checked 25 August 2026
Revenue and profit are FY24 figures Nithin Kamath disclosed on Zerodha's blog (reported by Entrackr and Business Standard); FY23 (Rs 6,875 Cr revenue / Rs 2,907 Cr PAT) is from audited filings. Marked STATED because a full audited FY24 report was not yet filed at disclosure. The $1B revenue / about $560M profit figures are conversions at about Rs 83.5 per USD. The 30-50% revenue-risk is Kamath's own guidance, not our estimate. Active-client and market-share figures are NSE data. No drama invented: the flat-fee disruption and near-zero marketing growth are documented first-party. We never score you.