How does Zerodha make money without charging brokerage on delivery trades?

The short answer

Zerodha runs a low-margin, high-volume model: free equity delivery, a flat ₹20 per intraday/F&O order, plus float income and account fees. The lesson for founders: you can win a commoditized market by ruthlessly cutting the thing everyone else overcharges for, then earning on volume and adjacent revenue. Transparency itself became their moat.

Go deeper, your way

2 hand-picked resources, 2 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

📄 Article

✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it A primary-source, founder-written account of how India's largest and most profitable brokerage actually makes money and thinks about business design. Rare candor on pricing, transparency, and building profitably without VC, from Nithin Kamath himself.

Z-Connect: Business Updates & Why We Do What We Do

From zerodha.com by Nithin Kamath blog post

Low-margin, high-volume flat pricing disrupted a whole overcharging industry
Charging fairly and transparently can itself become a durable moat
A profitable, bootstrapped model gave Zerodha total freedom over its direction

Open zerodha.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it Lenny's Newsletter is the most trusted operator-written resource on product, growth, and monetization, drawing on data from hundreds of companies. It's specific and tactical where most business-model writing is generic.

Lenny's Newsletter, Growth, Business Models & Monetization

From lennysnewsletter.com by Lenny Rachitsky newsletter archive

Match your monetization model to how customers already buy in your category
Freemium is a growth engine only if free users convert at a meaningful rate
B2B vs B2C is a fundamental fork that changes sales, pricing, and funding needs

Open lennysnewsletter.com →

Terms in this answer

Moat

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