Listed brokers, exchanges rake in profits even as war clouds linger

Among listed brokers such as Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Groww), Angel One, IIFL Capital Services and Anand Rathi Share & Stock Brokers, standalone revenues rose between 3% and 23% in the March quarter from Oct-Dec, while standalone profit after tax grew 11% to 43%.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services‘ revenues fell 23% sequentially, while it reported a loss of ₹48.9 crore in the quarter.

The consolidated profit after tax of BSE and NSE rose 33% and 19%, respectively, while revenues grew 26% and 27% during the quarter. “We saw a strong fourth quarter performance across listed exchanges and brokers, supported by a favourable base effect after last year’s decline in derivatives volumes,” said Ashish Nanda, chief digital business officer, Kotak Securities. “Higher market volatility around the Budget period, strong commodity trading activity as gold and silver prices peaked, and elevated VIX levels amid the US-Iran conflict also drove volumes higher.”

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core and more: Favourable base effect, higher market volatility, commodity trading and rising margin trading funding income boost March quarter show

Industry officials said the improvement in earnings was also aided by diversification beyond core broking income, particularly through distribution and margin trading funding (MTF). “Brokers have aggressively scaled MTF books,” said Roop Bhootra, whole-time director at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers.

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“MTF provides leveraged cash equity exposure with broker-funded margins, generating interest income (with brokerage revenue) that hedges against volatility in broking income and offsets any F&O moderation,” Bhootra said.
Higher trading activity, particularly in options, also supported earnings momentum. The March quarter saw strong revenue growth led by higher options trading activity, as traders shifted from futures after the STT hike announcement, even before the new rates took effect, said Pranay Aggarwal, director and CEO of Stoxkart.NSE had earlier said that its average daily traded volume for equity options (premium value) rose 43% in March compared with the December quarter. Aggarwal said brokers are evolving into ‘pseudo-NBFCs’.

“Products like algo trading, where brokers charge brokerage and subscription or API fees, are gaining traction. Brokers are also expanding into wealth management, insurance, online FDs and other offerings to reduce the seasonality and volatility of pure-play broking income,” he said.

Stock performance has been mixed so far in 2026.