Online brokerage platform Zerodha reported a net profit of ₹4,283 crore for the financial year ending March 31, 2026. This figure increased by approximately 1.2% compared to ₹4,231 crore in the previous fiscal year, while revenue remained unchanged.
The Bengaluru-based company's revenue reached ₹8,847 crore in FY25. Although Zerodha does not disclose absolute figures, it provides indicative data through bar charts.
In a blog post celebrating Zerodha's 16th anniversary, CEO Nitin Kamath explained the stagnation in real terms as a result of the end of the bull market and the removal of transaction fee discounts. Trading activity has decreased since the peak of the Indian market in September 2024, and new account growth has slowed year-on-year.
Furthermore, macroeconomic difficulties, including the Middle East energy crisis and the lack of local artificial intelligence developments, kept Indian markets sideways while international indices rose.
The decline in transaction commission income was offset by interest income from the Margin Trading Facility (MTF) business, where clients trade using borrowed capital. Kamath emphasized that Zerodha holds the position of India's largest retail broker by Assets Under Management (AUM), which includes client investments. Among these assets are ₹100,000 crore received from IL&FS.
The company operates with a relatively small team of less than 100 people across technology, product, business, and operations departments, enabling it to rapidly implement AI-driven improvements. The NRI business also shows potential due to simplified registration rules.
However, the MTF portfolio volume grew to ₹9,000 crore, with clients utilizing ₹6,000 crore, accounting for 25% of Zerodha's net capital. Cautious about this rapid increase in leverage, Kamath warned: 'Leverage gives a boost when things are going well. But when things go badly, it can become very, very bad.'
Brokerage activity remains heavily dependent on Futures and Options (F&O) contracts, which, according to Kamath, do not generate profits for 99% of retail traders and face tightening regulation. Additionally, brokerage services do not compound interest, as mandatory quarterly fund settlements, returning unused funds to banks, reset each period to zero.
Account maintenance fees amount to only 2% of revenue, whereas MTF generates 10%. To hedge these industry risks, Zerodha has diversified its operations by creating Zerodha Capital, Zerodha AMC, and the Rainmatter Foundation. Regulatory requirements have also increased the working capital needs; Zerodha must now maintain a capital base of ₹11,000 crore to operate, serving as a protective barrier against smaller competitors.
Kamath noted that scale limits flexibility: 'At our scale, even a small problem can affect hundreds of thousands of customers, which means we must be extremely careful in everything we do.' In other updates, Zerodha announced the resumption of a 10% referral commission and plans to launch US investments and integrated mutual fund trades on its Kite platform.



