Nithin Kamath reveals Zerodha’s playbook: No ads, no sales targets, customer-first approach

Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath on Tuesday shared what he believes has been the driving force behind the brokerage’s growth, saying the company’s success has come from putting customer interests ahead of aggressive expansion and avoiding conventional growth tactics.

In a post on X, Kamath said one of the most common questions he gets from young entrepreneurs at industry events and through Rainmatter is what makes Zerodha different. He directed users to a company page outlining the principles that have shaped the business since its inception.

According to Zerodha, its core philosophy revolves around prioritising customer interests over growth, maintaining transparency and building products that avoid nudging users into unnecessary trading or financial decisions.

The brokerage said it does not advertise, spam customers or use incentives to encourage higher trading activity. Instead, it has relied almost entirely on word-of-mouth referrals to grow from an unknown startup in 2010 into one of India’s largest stockbroking platforms.

Zerodha said more than 1.6 crore customers now trust the platform with around Rs 6 lakh crore worth of equity investments, while the brokerage accounts for nearly 15% of India’s daily retail exchange trading volumes.

Kamath also attributed Zerodha’s culture to its decision to remain bootstrapped and profitable, allowing it to operate without pressure from external investors. The company said employees are not assigned metric-based growth targets such as the number of accounts opened, app installs, orders placed or revenue generated.
Instead, the focus has remained on improving product quality and customer experience rather than pursuing rapid growth at any cost.The comments come at a time when fintech firms are increasingly competing for users through marketing campaigns, cashbacks and incentive-driven customer acquisition strategies. Zerodha has long stood apart by eschewing paid advertising and maintaining a low-profile approach to customer acquisition.

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