Bhubaneswar: Zerodha, India’s leading technology-driven brokerage firm, today announced the launch of its direct mutual fund platform – Coin and shared its overall growth numbers.
Zerodha has grown tremendously in the past one year, adding clients at a rate of 144 % (FY 16-17). Zerodha currently has a user base of over 2.86 lakh across India.
In Odisha, Zerodha has offices in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It has grown at a rate of 159 % for FY 16-17 with a client base of over 5000, with touchpoint of 1 branch office and 1 partner office.
In Bhubaneswar, Zerodha has over 1000 clients and has grown at a rate of 170% for FY 16-17. Speaking more on the business development, Nithin Kamath, Founder & CEO, Zerodha, said, “The investor participation in India is still very shallow; around 5 million investors who have traded once a year and not more than 1 million Indians who have traded once a quarter; less than 0.01% of India’s population. We have been able to make inroads, though. To attract our first 90,000 clients, it took us five years, but with the launch of our zero brokerage offering on equity investments and continuously improving technology offerings we have been able to quickly increase our client base to over 286,000 in the last 12 months.”
On Coin
Zerodha Coin is a platform that let the customer buy mutual funds online, completely commission-free, directly from asset management companies. The mutual fund bought through Coin will be in demat form, with a convenience of one portfolio across equity, mutual fund, currency. Zerodha will charge a flat subscription fee of Rs 50 per month, irrespective of the number or value of mutual fund transactions. One can start, stop or modify SIPs anytime they want and the first Rs 25,000/- worth of investments would be free.
“For an informed investor, buying mutual funds directly is the best option. SIP of Rs 5000 monthly invested for 25 years in direct vs distributor can potentially save Rs 28 lakh as commissions. Buying direct mutual fund in demat also gives the convenience of a single portfolio view,” Nithin adds.
To manage the growing needs of its clients, Zerodha currently has 22 branches, 70 partner offices and 5 support/call & trade offices in India.
On Rupee Tales
Zerodha also recently took a momentous step to nurture young minds with Rupee Tales – a set of 5 story books which attempts to familiarise children above 7 years to basic financial concepts. Zerodha has used storytelling with vibrant illustrations as a medium to convey these concepts.
Nithin further said, “Zerodha is committed to improving financial literacy in India. Our educational initiatives, such as Varsity and Trading Q&A are a testimony to this. We are taking this commitment further with Rupee Tales. It is our earnest attempt to creatively inculcate basic financial awareness among children. The concepts covered in Rupee Tales pertain to financial inclusion; pivotal to the cashless and paperless economy India is striving for. A large part of the ‘financial inclusion for all’ dream is dependent on how the younger generation adapts to it.”
Each book deals with a specific topic, peppered with lively characters, and vibrant illustrations. The concepts covered include
1. Savings,
2. Banking & Inflation,
3. Taxes,
4. Insurance, and
5. Stock Markets
Karthik Rangappa, author of Rupee Tales & VP- Educational Services, Zerodha, added, “The idea to write Rupee Tales came to me when my 7-year-old daughter kept asking me where I work and what I do. I realised it was not easy to explain what the stock market is or, for that matter, basic finance to Meera. During a casual chat at work, we realised there was no material available to familiarise kids to basic finance. Being India’s leading financial services firm, we somehow felt it was our responsibility to change this, and lo and behold, Rupee Tales was born”.
The stories were conceptualised in-house at Zerodha. The Rupee Tales box set can be ordered from rupeetales.com, is priced at INR 470/- only.
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