Stockbroking platform Zerodha has reported a steep rise in both profits and revenues for the financial year 2021, a year that witnessed immense interest in the stock markets as new retail investors began their stock investment journeys amidst the pandemic.
According to a report by Entrackr, the startup has posted a profit of Rs 1,122 crore, a jump of over 164 percent from Rs 424 crore in FY20. Revenues too spiked by 190 percent to Rs 2,729 crore in FY21 from Rs 938.45 crore year ago.
The online mutual fund investment and stockbroking landscape has witnessed immense customer interest in India since the beginning of the pandemic. Job losses, health concerns led Indians to invest and save more in avenues including mutual funds and also try their luck at gaining from the stock market highs and lows.
As a testament to this, Zerodha’s active clients grew from 14.14 lakh in FY20 to around 34 lakh in FY21. About 82.5 percent of the company’s operating revenue comes from brokerage fees and sale of tech products and this vertical saw a rise of over three times from Rs 718 crore in FY20 to Rs 2,252.5 crore in FY21, the report said.
However, the Bengaluru-based player also saw a year-on-year rise in expenses by 2.4 times, which grew from Rs 517.7 crore in FY20 to Rs 1,260.2 crore in FY21.
Zerodha competes with other stockbroking platforms like Groww and Upstox. In FY21, Groww posted a loss of Rs 107 crore, but its parent company Nextbillion Technologies posted a profit of Rs 2.72 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2021.
While Upstox is yet to post its financial results for FY21, the company had registered a loss of close to Rs 38 crore in the previous financial year, i.e. FY20.
Despite witnessing a growth in revenues in FY21, the report said that Zerodha’s founder and CEO Nithin Kamath expects the current financial year i.e. FY22 to see a slowdown in growth, despite a number of tech companies that went public this year.
The upcoming LIC IPO is likely to see huge investor interest again. Kamath, speaking at Niti Aayog’s Fintech Open Month had said that India will see the largest month in terms of new account openings for capital markets ahead of the IPO.
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