https://nithinkamath.me/Recent content on Nithin Kamath's personal homepageHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usSun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/attracting-nri-capital-into-india-should-be-easier/Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/attracting-nri-capital-into-india-should-be-easier/One thing that feels under-discussed in all the conversations about attracting foreign capital into India is the Indian diaspora. There is a large population of NRIs who are emotionally and financially interested in investing in India. But today, for many of them, the process of opening accounts, completing documentation, and actually investing in Indian markets is still far more painful than it needs to be. Making life easier for NRIs could be one of the lowest-hanging fruits for attracting long-term capital into India.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mtf-risks-most-retail-investors-dont-fully-understand/Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mtf-risks-most-retail-investors-dont-fully-understand/Leverage is pro-cyclical i.e., increase as the markets go up, which has been the case in the post-pandemic period. While leverage in F&O has steadily reduced because of regulatory tightening, some of it has migrated to margin trading facility (MTF). MTF’s popularity is very recent and most retail customers don’t really understand the risks. While we offer MTF, we do it without being loud about it or constantly pushing it. We are probably the only platform to warn users before they enable MTF.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/why-indian-markets-are-more-tightly-controlled-than-many-western-markets/Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/why-indian-markets-are-more-tightly-controlled-than-many-western-markets/The news about import duties on gold and silver going up to 15% came late last night. The interesting thing: neither open interest, prices, nor volume in Gold and Silver showed any unusual moves in the hours leading up to the announcement. If this had happened in the United States, I’m fairly sure some of the people close to the decision-making process would have found a way to trade it, either through regulated futures markets, other derivative contracts, or prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mission-drishtis-journey-to-the-orbit-backed-by-rainmatter/Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mission-drishtis-journey-to-the-orbit-backed-by-rainmatter/1 week ago, GalaxEye’s Mission Drishti reached orbit, and we’re proud to have played a small part in their journey through Rainmatter. When we first met them a few years ago, we were floored by their audacious goal. They were building the world’s first commercial OptoSAR satellite— it would combine optical imaging and radar sensors into a single payload that could see through clouds and operate day or night, no matter the weather conditions.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/personal-finance-lessons-people-still-ignore/Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/personal-finance-lessons-people-still-ignore/When it comes to personal finance, people somehow keep making the same mistakes over and over again. There’s very little creativity in the mistakes people make. Take investing. Pretty much every influencer, every serious finance writer, and the financial media have been screaming for years: don’t mix insurance with investments. ULIPs are usually a bad idea. Endowment policies are usually a bad idea. And yet, ULIP sales continue to grow and endowment plans continue to be sold.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mtf-growth-is-outpacing-cash-market-activity/Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/mtf-growth-is-outpacing-cash-market-activity/Since 2020, cash market activity hasn’t grown much relative to options. At the same time, MTF (Margin Trade Funding) activity has significantly increased. MTF as we know it today, began around 2019 and started growing after 2022. MTF is mostly on NSE, and the growth in options activity over the last 3 years is mostly due to BSE (options started on BSE in 2023). Our MTF numbers have also grown significantly during the period; our total MTF book size is approximately ₹7,400 crores today.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/direct-retail-ownership-in-equities-is-stagnating/Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/direct-retail-ownership-in-equities-is-stagnating/Individual investors apparently sold ₹13,000 crores of direct equities from December 2025 to March 2026. Our clients were net buyers to a similar tune. Btw, all the retail participation has been through mutual funds. Direct retail ownership has been pretty much flat to declining.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-disconnect-between-broker-performance-and-market-data/Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-disconnect-between-broker-performance-and-market-data/If you look at listed brokers, you’d probably think we are in a bull market, but the data shows something else. In fact, there are a lot of conflicting signals. Cash market turnover is still below where it peaked in late 2024. Net direct equity inflows, for example, are negative for the first time since FY19. So where is there so much enthusiasm around capital markets related investment themes? Could be the strong equity mutual fund flows and SIP flows.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/a-visit-to-victoria-memorial-and-the-indian-museum/Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/a-visit-to-victoria-memorial-and-the-indian-museum/A bunch of us travelled to Kolkata with our families and visited the Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum. My first proper museum trip in Kolkata, and it’s easily the best museum city in India. The Victoria Memorial, conceived by Lord Curzon after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and opened in 1921, is stunning as architecture. But seeing it in India feels a bit off. Built with Indian money and marble from Rajasthan, it’s also a reminder of the scale of extraction during British rule.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/in-good-hands/Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/in-good-hands/This is how we want our customers to feel — like they’re “in good hands”. From this essay by Steph Ango.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/auction-markets-on-kite/Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/auction-markets-on-kite/We enabled participation in auction markets in 2023, and someone told me a few small prop brokers who were making money on auctions were apparently hit pretty hard because liquidity improved and spreads tightened. All of this with just ~25,000 of our 1.7Cr+ clients participating in auctions in the past year. Auctions are held to procure shares when a seller fails to deliver shares and a trade results in short delivery.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/how-farmers-for-forests-is-rethinking-tree-planting/Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/how-farmers-for-forests-is-rethinking-tree-planting/The heat has been brutal this past week. Temperatures hit 45° in Nagpur, 44° in Ahmedabad, 43° in Prayagraj, 42° in Delhi. Even Bengaluru hit 37°. And we’re still in April 😬 A big contributing factor behind rising temperatures is the loss of forest cover, and India has lost a lot of it. Back in 2020, we met the team behind Farmers for Forests (F4F). Their idea was to do agroforestry at scale.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/unease-around-wealth-and-inequality/Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/unease-around-wealth-and-inequality/I’ll admit this might sound odd coming from me, maybe even clichéd. But it’s something I’ve been sitting with for a while, so here goes. When I started out, like most people, I had a simple wealth goal. I’d actually written it down: hit ₹5 crore, retire in Goa, beach shack, done. That was the dream. After the Zerodha journey, I find myself on a very different side of that equation, and the dark inequalities of wealth and opportunity are harder to ignore than ever.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/what-data-says-about-fo-india/Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/what-data-says-about-fo-india/Despite what people think about F&O trading in India and all its problems, it is still a very, very small market compared to almost anything else. In fact, in the month of March, only about 30 lakh people traded an F&O contract. Across FY26 as a whole, only about 20 lakh people traded only in F&O. If you combine people who traded in equities and F&O, that number goes up to roughly 64 lakh.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/screens-are-rewiring-how-kids-think/Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/screens-are-rewiring-how-kids-think/For most parents, digital devices have become a pacifier😬, it’s a way to keep them quiet, and it’s understandable, but it ends up creating a dependency in the long run. At Kiaan’s(son’s) school, no digital device is allowed and at home, we restrict screen time to 30 mins a day. But even then, it is crazy the addiction to reels/clips. I normally catch him browsing through that.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/varsity-junior-understanding-risk-and-reward/Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/varsity-junior-understanding-risk-and-reward/We’ve been thinking for a while about how to teach financial concepts to kids without it feeling like a lecture, and that’s the whole idea behind Varsity Junior. Along with this, we also recently allowed the ability to open minor accounts. Also, each video takes a real finance concept and explains it through a story that kids can relate to. The latest episode is about risk and reward. A farmer loses his entire watermelon crop.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-freedom-to-stick-to-your-principles/Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-freedom-to-stick-to-your-principles/Not having to answer to investors or chase revenue targets is a huge advantage and, honestly, a blessing. It’s what has allowed us to stick to our philosophies like not spamming users, not tracking behaviour, not having different pricing for different people, and not doing things that aren’t in the interest of customers. All of this is easy to say and harder to stick with, especially when I look at the charts of listed brokers 😬https://nithinkamath.me/blog/not-all-health-risks-are-out-of-our-hands/Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/not-all-health-risks-are-out-of-our-hands/Not sure how accurate this data is, but even directionally, two things stand out. A lot of what kills us is systemic, like poor air quality, broken food systems, and infrastructure. But a meaningful chunk is also within our control, like how we eat, move, sleep, and take care of ourselves. Image: Our World In Datahttps://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-irony-of-having-to-pay-to-show-up-for-your-own-name/Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/the-irony-of-having-to-pay-to-show-up-for-your-own-name/Search for Zerodha on Google or the app stores, and the first thing you’ll see is ads from our competitors. The only way for us to show up first is to bid on our own brand keyword. So we’d essentially be paying to be visible when a customer is actively looking for us by name, and if we don’t, competitors will happily take that spot. What’s worse is that ads now show up above and below our own keyword.https://nithinkamath.me/blog/10-years-of-upi/Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://nithinkamath.me/blog/10-years-of-upi/Every time we’ve considered building a UPI app at Zerodha the conversation always ends at the same place: BHIM already exists. We could never figure out what we could do differently. It’s kinda surprising that 10 years after UPI, the BHIM app has just 1% market share. I think it should be much higher. If you haven’t tried it, you should; it’s quite slick.