Zerodha is an exception from today’s startup world. It is a blended mix of age-old business style with the new-age technology services. Confusing? Let me add more color to it. Today, what we are seeing in the startup ecosystem is just the valuation game. No proper profitability paths, huge cash burns, and sky-high valuation.
We all know how Zerodha stood out by staying bootstrapped and generating real revenues from day one. But what we often overlook is this: they achieved everything without a strong background, without big funding rounds, and without chasing hype. And now, their recently published numbers show something unbelievable: Zerodha is sitting on around ₹22,000 crore in cash reserves. Yes, that is not valuation; that is their cash reserves. While revenues declined during this year, it is still making huge profits, which no other recent startups are in the near vicinity.
Their revenue from operations actually dipped from ₹9,993 crore in FY24 to ₹8,847 crore in FY25, as per their consolidated financials sourced from the RoC. Markets go through phases, trading activity slows, and revenues naturally fluctuate. Yet, even with this dip, Zerodha continues to operate from a position of unmatched stability.
According to the latest NSE data, Zerodha today has 7.26 million users and commands 15.8% market share. Their bread and butter remain brokerage income, but investment management fees, software services, and interest income also add meaningful layers to their operating revenue.
Now, salaries jumped from ₹410 crore in FY24 to ₹539 crore in FY25, a 31% rise, a clear sign that they’re investing in people and capability. Even the promoter compensation reflects transparency and structure: Nithin and Nikhil Kamath drew ₹96 crore each, and Seema Patil received ₹36 crore, totalling ₹228 crore. Overall, their total costs rose modestly from ₹3,119 crore to ₹3,238 crore in FY25.
And last, Zerodha’s profits also fell 22.9%, dropping from ₹5,496 crore in FY24 to ₹4,237 crore in FY25. Now, as we looked at the financials. We should understand one simple thing. How is Zerodha doing it all? What are the factors supporting Zerodha? Let’s do a deep dive and understand.
One of the core reasons why any company survives or succeeds is when they are transparent to their customer in all aspects. The entire business model of Zerodha is very transparent, and there are no hidden costs involved. And this transparency is reflected most clearly in their brokerage model. Their model is simple: ₹0 brokerage on equity delivery. Flat ₹20 per order on intraday and F&O. A simple flat fee that remains consistent, and this flat-fee structure removed the fear of “extra charges” and gave traders absolute predictability in costs.
Now running the business efficiently without heavy marketing spending. This is why Zerodha never had to run massive advertising campaigns. Now what we need to think about is this: why can’t competitors still match Zerodha’s growth, style, and efficiency? When a company is built on investor money, it is forced to grow fast, spend fast, and chase unrealistic targets. This pressure naturally leads to bloated teams, unnecessary features, high CAC, and high burn. Most brokers spend hundreds of crores every year on ads, influencers, and cashback-led campaigns. What was Zerodha’s marketing spend last year? Just ₹47 crore. That’s insane and leads to lower CAC.
There are some interesting data points that show why Zerodha is a strong player. Despite Groww having a larger active client base at 12.6 million, Zerodha remains the most profitable brokerage in India with a staggering ₹4,200 crore profit, compared to Groww’s ₹1,824 crore. Zerodha proves once again that efficiency and strong fundamentals can outperform scale-heavy models.
Why Does Zerodha Earn More with Fewer Users? Zerodha primarily attracts serious traders, experienced investors, F&O participants, and high-volume market participants. Groww’s user base is broader and more “retail-first”; many are casual, small-ticket investors. That alone creates a difference. Now when you actually have a serious and loyal user base, that creates the impact. And when you are running the business, it creates more value. Most apps subtly push users to trade more because it increases brokerage revenue. Zerodha intentionally discourages addictive behavior. And just for the sake of revenues, they never diversified and stuck to what they are good at.
So, in simple terms, Zerodha has better users, better margins, better tech, better culture, better cost control, better risk management, better credibility, and better fundamentals, all with fewer people, fewer features, and fewer distractions. That’s why it remains what it is today.
Well, rising competition is a threat to the company. Groww is actually making strong moves and growing faster. User-base-wise, Groww had already surpassed Zerodha. Now what we need to watch closely is how this industry landscape changes in the future with rising competition.
What do you think? Will Zerodha remain unbeatable even in coming years?
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