‘Zerodha’s AUM is Rs 3.50 lakh crore’: Founder Nithin Kamath says they were not taken seriously few years ago

Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath said that the platform’s assets under management is Rs 3.50 lakh crore. He said that just a few years ago, their AUM was far less and none of their peers took them seriously. 

Speaking at the ‘OnePlus Open Conversations’, hosted by CEO and founder of Avalon Labs, Varun Mayya, Nithin Kamath said that there is no way of preventing disruption and the only way to build a business is to stay sharp. 

“In 2020, the AUM, our customers’ total assets under management was maybe Rs 15,000 crore. I don’t think any of our peers, like brokers, looked at us very seriously. They were like ‘okay you have made some profits but what eventually matters is like what is the AUM of the business, how much do customers trust you with their assets’. Today it is Rs 3 and a half lakh crore,” said Kamath in the podcast. 

“Rs 10,000 crore is not much…in a sense that it is not your money, it is customers holding assets with you. But at Rs 3.50 lakh crore, we are in the league of some of the bank brokers today. And I guess, today people take us a lot more seriously than – I am not talking about 2010 when no one even realised what we are – I am talking about 2020, when we were decently big as brokers,” said Kamath.

Kamath further stated, “I keep telling in the office that there is no status quo in today’s world…everyone’s gonna get disrupted, we just have to stay sharp. There is no other way to build a business.”

Kamath also spoke about Zerodha’s focus on content, which he added is not new, but began the day they started the platform. He said that even though he was late to join social media, he learnt early on that YouTube is the place to be. 

He used to manage Zerodha’s social media till 2019, he said. Kamath emphasised on the importance of content for a business. “As a business of money, you are trying to build trust and credibility. So, you have to build your own content,” he told Mayya. 

Also read: ‘Half our office was crying’: When founder Nithin Kamath sent fake cops to raid Zerodha headquarters!