New Delhi — Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath criticized rival investment platforms after Groww, one of India’s largest retail brokerages by active users, began offering regular mutual funds through its subscription service Groww Prime.
In a post on X, Kamath said many platforms that introduced direct mutual fund offerings around the time Zerodha launched its Coin platform have since “disappeared or pivoted to something else.” He said the remaining competitors are now “rethinking their choice of offering direct plans,” while adding that “Zerodha will continue to offer direct mutual funds for free.”
His comments came after Bengaluru-based Groww expanded its product mix to include regular mutual funds on Groww Prime, its subscription-based platform. The product, which was first launched for a select group of users earlier this year, has now been rolled out to the company’s two-crore customer base.
Groww had previously offered only direct mutual funds, positioning them as a lower-cost investment option that can improve long-term returns by eliminating distributor commissions.
Kamath said Zerodha’s pricing approach has remained unchanged since it introduced the discount brokerage model in India in 2010.
“When we started the discount brokerage model in India in 2010, we decided to charge the same fee regardless of trade size. The logic was simple: if the effort to execute a trade is the same, why should customers pay differently?” Kamath said.
He said Zerodha applied the same philosophy after launching Coin, choosing to offer only direct mutual funds rather than charging commissions through regular plans.
“You can’t call yourself a discount or a low-cost broker if you charge a percentage fee on transactions, because there’s no incremental effort in executing a larger order,” Kamath said.
Kamath also urged investors to check whether they hold regular mutual funds. He said Zerodha would help customers switch from regular funds to direct plans if they choose to do so. (Source: IANS)
