Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath REVEALS who is his 'real competition', says..., it's not Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath shared his views post Jio-BlackRock stockbroking announcement. He also threw light on who he feels is his "real competition". Can you guess? Let us give you a hint -- it's not Mukesh Ambani or Gautam Adani. 

India’s capital markets are “largely limited to the top 10 crore Indians,” says the Zerodha co-founder, who reckons that billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani's Jio BlackRock can expand that reach. In his response to the venture's foray into stockbroking, Kamath wrote on 'X', "Many people asked me about Jio-BlackRock getting a stockbroking license. Firstly, this is great news. The biggest issue for the Indian markets is a lack of breadth in participation. We're largely limited to the top 10 crore Indians."

"If anyone can expand the markets beyond the top 10 crore Indians, it's probably Jio with all its distribution might. As for how many new Indian investors have the money to invest in the market, I don't know", he adds. 

Jio BlackRock — a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Financial Services and BlackRock — had secured broking and advisory licenses earlier this year. Meanwhile, Kamath also signalled that Zerodha is not in the race for growth at any cost. “We are not chasing vanity metrics. The idea is to stay profitable and... stick to the principles and philosophies that have gotten us this far.”

"At the heart of our philosophy is to always do the right thing for customers", he adds. 

 July 2, 2025

Explaining his point further, the Zerodha CEO stated, "This means not pushing customers to trade and ensuring there are no unnecessary notifications, dark patterns, etc. We understand that in the long term, the odds of success are better if customers trade less."

In what is being viewed as an indirect jibe at Jio, he said that Zerodha is not interested in "acquiring customers using one plan and changing the pricing later." "So yeah, we are in no hurry. We are in it for the long haul and are always working to ensure we have the best product offerings that help our customers grow with us. I don't know if you can say the same about many other financial services businesses in the industry, who are constantly looking to grow at any cost", he said. 

Nithin Kamath also shed light on who he thinks he's competing with. "And yeah, I still feel our real competition is going to be more from first-generation founders who are running, breathing, and always thinking about broking. I somehow don't feel it is really going to be from incumbents. This is not a business where having deep pockets means you have a large moat.But yeah, I might be wrong", Kamath writes.