'Our demat share is shrinking, but people with more money are sticking with us': Zerodha CEO

Zerodha’s market share of new demat accounts is shrinking, but its AUM is growing as wealthier clients remain loyal, CEO Nithin Kamath said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), sparking a discussion on growth strategies in India’s competitive broking industry. 

“Our AUM share is growing (people with more money trust us), but our demat share is shrinking (fewer new accounts),” Kamath wrote.

“The people with money are sticking with us, but many others aren’t opening accounts with us. Most likely, the newer and younger, and people from tier 2 and 3 towns, are probably investing elsewhere.” 

Kamath highlighted the challenges of competing without advertising, account‑opening incentives, or aggressive acquisition tactics. “The challenge is that once people pick a platform, they rarely switch,” he noted, adding that broking remains cyclical by nature.

He said Zerodha has been focusing on content to drive growth but admitted measuring its impact is difficult. 

“So, how do you grow when you can't play the traditional acquisition game? The obvious answer may be "content," and we have significantly improved on it, but it's hard to measure the impact.”

“If you were in our shoes, what would you do?” Kamath asked, inviting suggestions from founders and marketing professionals.

Netizens response

Many people took to the comment section to share their views on Kamath's post.

“...many see advertising as somehow "gaming the system" since it's "inorganic" and probably you do too? Is that the reason to not do traditional acquisition model? IMO, advertising is awareness as well. If it's the newer/younger gen from tier 2/3 that's not coming to Z I think it's because their mindspace is already taken up by someone else. Maybe they don't even know you exist and why are you better?” a user asked. 

As someone who uses zerodha and have used broking apps like Robinhood in the past, Zerodha does not have that new age feel to it. It's similar to Fidelity investments app. Groww feels more similar to Robinhood hence I believe new people tend to open account there. Though,…

— Indian Retail Investing (@IndianInve10186) July 24, 2025

I am assuming all these people who are trusting you with more money are already doing branding for you.

Is this trust and reason behind it being understood well by the new and young?

— Devendra Mahra (@devendrasm) July 24, 2025

“You've scaled without content (except Varsity) and still done well because you stayed true to your principles. I think continuous product improvement and the initiatives (maybe a bit more in Hindi also) can help. And its okay to not have all the customers,” another expressed.