Zerodha Review

Company background

Zerodha was founded in August 2010 by Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath in Bengaluru, India. The name combines the English word "zero" with the Sanskrit word "rodha" (meaning barrier), reflecting the goal of removing cost barriers to stock market participation. Zerodha pioneered the discount broking model in India and grew to become one of the country's largest brokers by active client base, accumulating tens of millions of registered clients since launch. The company is bootstrapped and independent. Beyond brokerage, Zerodha operates Coin for direct mutual funds, Console as a back-office dashboard, Kite Connect as a developer API, and Varsity for free financial education.

Fees and pricing

Zerodha charges zero brokerage on equity delivery trades across NSE and BSE. Equity intraday trades are charged at 0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order, whichever is lower. The same rate applies to futures in equity, currency, and commodity segments. Options trades are charged a flat Rs. 20 per executed order. Individual account opening is free. There is no deposit fee, no withdrawal fee, and no inactivity fee. A depository participant (DP) charge of Rs. 15.34 per scrip is levied by CDSL each time shares are sold. The demat AMC is free in the first year and free thereafter for BSDA accounts holding up to Rs. 4 lakh. Orders placed through a Zerodha dealer by phone cost Rs. 50 per order.

Regulation and safety

Zerodha Broking Ltd is registered with SEBI (registration no. INZ000031633) and holds a depository participant registration (IN-DP-431-2019). The firm is a trading member of NSE, BSE, MCX, and MSEI. SEBI requires client funds to be held in segregated accounts separate from firm funds. Securities are held electronically with depositories CDSL or NSDL and can be transferred to another broker in the event of default. The Investor Protection Fund provides compensation of up to Rs. 35 lakh at NSE and up to Rs. 16 lakh at BSE per investor per defaulting member.

Platform experience

The Kite platform is available as a web application and as iOS and Android apps. It provides streaming market data across 90,000+ instruments, advanced charting with hundreds of indicators, 20-level market depth, GTT orders with one-cancels-other functionality, basket orders, cloud alerts, and an integrated option chain showing Greeks and open interest. A demo version of Kite with dummy data is accessible without registration. Coin enables commission-free direct mutual fund purchases credited to the demat account. Varsity offers free structured educational content from market basics through advanced derivatives topics.

Pros and cons

Zerodha's main advantages are its zero-brokerage equity delivery model, the flat Rs. 20 cap on intraday and F&O trades, no fees on deposits or withdrawals, SEBI regulation with segregated client funds, and a well-regarded trading platform. The main drawbacks are restriction to Indian residents and NRIs, no forex or CFD trading, no fractional shares, the CDSL DP charge on every sale of demat shares, and customer support limited to trading hours.