Zerodha founders Nithin Kamath & Nikhil Kamath top list of richest self-made Indians under 40

IIFL Wealth and Hurun India on Tuesday released the IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List 2020, a ranking of the self-made entrepreneurs with a wealth of INR 1,000 crore, aged forty years and under from India.

Kamath brothers started India's first online brokerage firm Zerodha, in 2010. The main focus was on the day traders at the beginning. "The plan back in 2010 was for Nikhil to trade with the very little money we had left after starting Zerodha to generate enough runway for the retail broking attempt. And that’s what he did, and that’s how we survived," founder Nithin Kamath recently shared in a blog. Ten years on, with their products and technology and education, the startup has grown massively. "Our disruptive pricing models and in-house technology have made us the biggest stock broker in India in terms of active retail clients," the company said.

Zerodha offers trading in equities, bonds, currencies, commodities and mutual funds. An investor has to spend ₹300 to open an account in Zerodha. The equity delivery investments are free. Securities transaction tax is charged variably for equity delivery, equity intraday, futures and options. It charges a flat fee of ₹20 for every trade, irrespective of its size with no brokerage fee. It has been adding nearly 2 lakh accounts every month.

"We have commoditised retail investing, making it accessible to millions of users at practically zero cost, equipping them with more high-quality tools than they would probably ever need to invest in the markets. All this, while being completely bootstrapped, driven purely by our passion," Zerodha's chief executive officer Nithin Kamath recalled.

To empower retail traders and investors, Zerodha runs a number of popular open online educational and community initiatives. The company launched Varsity, a learning module to educate the young investors investing for the first time. It also runs Trading Q&A, an active forum were traders and investors, can discuss stock ideas. Then there is ‘Z Connect’ an interactive blog.

Rainmatter, Zerodha's fintech fund and incubator, has invested in several fintech startups with the goal of growing the Indian capital markets.

In addition to Zerodha, Kamath brothers' founded an investment management firm True Beacon. It is aimed at ultra-high net worth investors and operates on a zero-fee model. The AMC does not charge an account opening fee, redemption fee, maintenance fee. It charges a 10% performance fee on the gains at the end of the financial year from the investor.

On future:

Commenting on future goals, Nithin Kamath shared, "We have built the best investment and trading apps and technological backbone and scale over the last ten years. Now, we’re going to focus on helping our customers become better investors and traders."

The Kamath brothers were the newcomers in the Forbes' list of India's 100 richest 2020.