There are many people in the world who work hard throughout their lives but never become billionaires. On the other hand, there is a young Indian who, at just 37, became one of the youngest billionaires in the world on his own.
This is the story of Nikhil Kamath, who, despite studying only up to class 10, co-founded India’s first discount brokerage firm, Zerodha Broking Limited, along with his elder brother. Their aim was to make trading accessible via mobile or computer and provide financial services to customers.
In the early days, they faced many major challenges, but they never gave up. As a result of their hard work and vision, Zerodha has become the second-largest brokerage firm in India today, handling more than 30 million trades daily — a remarkable achievement. This success made Nikhil Kamath a billionaire. His journey from being a school dropout to becoming India’s youngest billionaire is both inspiring and fascinating. Read on to know more…
Early Life
Nikhil Kamath was born on 5 September 1986 in Shimoga, Karnataka. His father, Raghuram Kamath, worked as an executive at Canara Bank, and his mother, Revathi Kamath, was skilled in playing the Veena.
Due to his father's transferable job, the family had to move frequently. Eventually, thinking about his children’s education and stability, his father decided to settle in Bengaluru when Nikhil was 9 years old.
Nikhil never showed much interest in studies. Apart from mathematics, he had little liking for other subjects. From an early age, his mind was inclined toward business ideas, and he had already set a goal to earn money.
He was also an excellent chess player and represented India in the Under-16 international championships. However, realizing that there was not much money in sports, he decided to move on.
In ninth grade, he started a business of selling old mobile phones with his friend Tejpal. But his mother feared that business was distracting him from studies, and in frustration, she flushed all the collected mobiles down the toilet. This did little to change Nikhil’s attitude toward studies.
His poor academic performance led many to believe he would fail the 10th grade. His teachers even suggested he shouldn’t appear for the board exams. When his parents were called to school, instead of scolding him, they told him, “Just don’t ever do something that will make us hang our heads in shame.” This showed the faith they had in their son’s potential. After that, Nikhil left formal education for good.
Career Begins
Soon after quitting school, he began seeking ways to earn money. He came to know about a job at a call center, but the minimum age required was 18, and he was only 16. So, he faked his birth certificate and managed to get the job.
He worked from 4 PM to 1 AM and earned a monthly salary of ₹8,000, which was decent for him at the time. He even moved out of his parents’ home and started living with his girlfriend.
Despite this, he wasn’t satisfied with the job. He began learning about the stock market and started trading part-time while continuing his call center job. By the age of 18, he had become quite good at trading.
Seeing his potential, his father trusted him with managing his money. Nikhil began investing his father's income, taking a small share of the profits for himself — a practice known in finance as portfolio management.
Later, he convinced his call center manager to let him manage his funds too. Eventually, he stopped going to work but still stayed on the payroll because he was now managing investments for the entire team.
Gradually, he began managing money for friends and relatives as well. His elder brother Nithin Kamath, who had been in the stock market earlier, supported him in this. Both were earning well through their stock market expertise.
Kamath & Associates
Eventually, Nikhil quit his job completely and focused full-time on stock trading. One day, an American investor noticed their performance and was so impressed that he gave Nikhil a cheque of ₹25 lakhs to manage his portfolio.
This inspired the Kamath brothers to start something bigger. In 2004, they founded Kamath & Associates to scale up their portfolio management business.
But they soon realized that most brokers were exploiting traders by charging high fees on stock buying and selling. To understand the system better, both brothers started working as sub-brokers. That’s when they realized there was no user-friendly platform in the Indian market for buying and selling stocks efficiently.
Zerodha: A Revolution in Indian Stock Trading
Years of experience in the stock market had exposed them to many issues. They saw these problems as opportunities. They wanted to build a tech-enabled trading platform to solve these issues. But building such a platform required crores of rupees — money they didn’t have.
Then came the market crash of 2008. Retail participation in the stock market dropped by over 50%, and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) began looking for ways to boost retail trading. They even published newspaper articles seeking suggestions.
Seeing this as an opportunity, the Kamath brothers approached the NSE with their idea. In exchange for a promise to bring a large number of customers, the NSE agreed to provide them with the required infrastructure.
In 2010, the brothers launched their platform under the name Zerodha — combining "Zero" and "Rodha" (barrier in Sanskrit). Their goal was simple: to provide quality trading services at the lowest possible cost.
Initially, they operated Zerodha with their savings. With no funding and limited staff, marketing the platform was tough. They had no money for ads, so they marketed door-to-door and called potential customers themselves. Their first 1,000 users came through pure hustle.
Rough Days & Masterstrokes
Being a digital platform, Zerodha often faced technical glitches and system crashes. At times, customers’ money would get stuck in the system, causing panic. These were sleepless nights for the brothers, who stayed calm and focused on improving services.
One of the most game-changing decisions came when they introduced a flat ₹20 charge per trade, regardless of the trade size — a revolutionary concept in the Indian market. This shook the brokerage industry, and customers started flooding to their platform.
In 2015, Nikhil launched a bold offer — zero brokerage on all investments. At a time when others were charging heavy fees, this offer attracted a massive wave of investors. Zerodha quickly overtook ICICI Securities and became India’s No. 1 brokerage firm.
The Boom & Billionaire Status
During the COVID-19 lockdown, interest in the stock market surged as people looked for alternate income sources. Zerodha, with its user-friendly and cost-effective model, became the go-to platform for millions.
From just 30,000 customers in 2015, they had 1.4 million users by 2020.
In 2019, Nikhil co-founded True Beacon, an asset management company, along with Richard Pattle. That same year, he married Amanda Puravankara, but the marriage ended in 2021.
In October 2023, at the age of 37, Nikhil Kamath became a billionaire for the first time, with a net worth of $3.1 billion (as per Forbes). He was recognized as one of the world’s youngest billionaires.
In a rare act of generosity, he pledged to donate 50% of his wealth through "The Giving Pledge", earning widespread admiration.
Today & Conclusion
In a time when many Indian startups are struggling or shutting down, Zerodha has emerged as India’s second-largest brokerage firm with over 7million customers and a 16.25% market share. Despite this, Nikhil still spends 85% of his time working — a true sign of dedication.
This was the inspiring story of Nikhil Kamath — a school dropout who changed the face of India’s trading industry.
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