Policy · Financial Services

Zerodha files for merchant banking licence

By Startup Enthusiast · 22 July 2026

What they do

Zerodha is an online brokerage for stock trading and investing with over 8 million investors

It has applied for a Category-I merchant banking licence to manage IPOs and advise on M&A

The move comes as its revenue fell 12% to ₹8,847 Cr in FY25 amid tighter F&O regulations

Zerodha has filed an application with SEBI for a Category-I merchant banking licence.
The licence would allow Zerodha to manage IPOs, advise on mergers and acquisitions, and underwrite issues.
It would compete with firms like SBI Capital Markets, Kotak Investment Banking, Axis Capital, and ICICI Securities.
More than a dozen firms, including Societe Generale Securities and InCred Capital, are also in the queue for the licence.
Zerodha is also experimenting with loans against insurance policies, US stock investments via GIFT city, and wealth advisory.
The company claims about 10% of all retail and HNI AUM in India through its wealth tech business.
Zerodha has over 8 million investors and a 15% share of daily trading volume.

Zerodha's operating revenue fell 12% to roughly ₹8,847 Cr in FY25 from ₹9,993 Cr the year before.
Net profit dropped 23% to about ₹4,237 Cr in FY25.
F&O notional average daily turnover declined by 38.07% between June 2024 and June 2025.
Individual investor participation in F&O fell by 36.31% over the same period.
The government raised STT on futures and options in the Union Budget 2026 to discourage speculative trading.

Zerodha is an online brokerage platform for stock trading and investing.
It has 1.8+ crore customers and about ₹9 lakh crores of equity investments.
It offers free account opening, free equity delivery, and direct mutual funds.
It charges for intraday and F&O trades.
Zerodha provides Kite Connect, HTTP APIs for order placement, market data streaming, and account management.
Varsity is the largest online stock market education book in the world.
TradingQ&A is the most active trading and investment community in India.
Zerodha's MTF (margin trading facility) launched in January 2025, with a book size of roughly ₹8,500 Cr.