Nithin Kamath Started Zerodha During a Quiet Market in 2010
Nithin Kamath is founder and CEO of Zerodha, a discount stockbroker he started in 2010. He began trading shares at 17. He lost about Rs 5 lakh in the 2001-2002 market crash and worked night shifts at a call centre while trading in the day to rebuild his capital.
| Role | Founder and Chief Executive Officer |
|---|---|
| Company | Zerodha |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, India |
| Industry | Finance and Banking |
| In role since | 2010 |
| Education | Engineering degree, Bangalore Institute of Technology |
| Company website | zerodha.com |
A Teenage Trader, Call-Centre Shifts and Sub-Broking
- Engineering degree from the Bangalore Institute of Technology
- Managed money for a US-based investor and ran the brokerage Kamath & Associates
- 2006: sub-broker for Reliance Money
- 2010: founded Zerodha, during a lull in market activity
Zerodha estimates its customers saved ₹25,620 crore in brokerage between 2016 and 2025, compared with a 0.3% brokerage model. Kamath has said 25% to 30% of new accounts come through referrals. The company puts the savings at about ₹7,000 crore in 2024 and ₹5,200 crore in 2025 alone.
Zerodha’s Profit and Active Clients in FY26
Zerodha offers share, derivatives and mutual fund trading with flat fees. It reported net profit of ₹4,283 crore for FY26, up 1.2% from ₹4,231 crore, Zerodha did not publish an exact FY26 revenue figure and said only that it was close to the FY25 level of ₹8,847 crore.
NSE data put Zerodha at 67.62 lakh active clients in July 2026, a 14.88% market share. FY26 profit was about ₹52 crore higher than the year before. Revenue had already dropped 11.5% in FY25, from ₹9,993 crore in FY24, and Zerodha’s share of active clients slipped to 15.2% during FY26.
