India’s largest stock broking platform Zerodha reported ₹8,320 crore revenue and ₹4,700 crore profit, according to co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath.

This is a big pull ahead from the ₹6,875 crore revenue and RS 2,907 crore profit reported in FY23. Then too, Zerodha saw its net profit surge by 39 per cent in FY23 from ₹2,094 crore in FY22; and its revenue grew by 35.5 per cent from ₹4,694 crore in FY22.

‘Unrealised Gains, Risks Materialising’

“The profits don’t consider the ~ ₹1,000 crore of unrealised gain, which will show in our financials. Given the profitability of the last three years, our net worth is almost ~40 per cent of the customer funds that we manage. It makes us one of the safest brokers to trade with,” Kamath added.

“Many risks … seem to be materialising simultaneously. We are already seeing revenue and profit plateau, and we are bracing for a big revenue hit later this year,” he added.

‘Bracing For Big Revenue Hit’

Kamath listed a number of reasons he foresees, Zerodha’s numbers taking a hit. These are:

• The amount of Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC) collected changes with the new Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) thresholds set by the regulator. “Essentially, we can charge full AMC from customers with a demat holding of ₹10 lakhs and more, as opposed to 4 lakhs today. Combined with us removing the account opening fee, this would be a meaningful drop in revenue,” he added.
• “We have run a decent-sized partner and referral program from the very beginning relying on customer word of mouth. Customers referred other customers, and we shared a small percentage of the brokerage as a commission. We have had to stop these payouts because the exchanges issued new guidelines saying a payout can be made only to Authorised Persons (AP) registered on the exchanges. Due to this, thousands of people referring will now be reduced to only a few registered APs, affecting growth,” Kamath shared.

Kamath also highlighted the “risk of the bull market ending at any time”, noting that this would bring “significant drawdown”. He however added that Zerodha is “well covered” to tide over the lull period “with a lean team, efficient expenses and infrastructure and material costs, and a strong networth”.