Nithin Kamath (born 5 October 1979) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Zerodha.
Kamath was born in Shivamogga, Karnataka, to a Konkani family. His father, U. R. Kamath, worked as an executive at Canara Bank, and his mother, Revathi, was a veena teacher. He has a younger brother, Nikhil Kamath, who later became his business partner. The family relocated to Bangalore in 1996.
Kamath began trading in the stock market at the age of 17, initially managing his father's trading account. From January 1997 to January 2004, he worked as a self-employed proprietary trader. To supplement his income, he worked as a Senior Tele-sales Associate at a call centre from January 2001 to January 2004, trading during the day and working nights.
From January 2004 to January 2010, Kamath worked as a sub-broker for Kamath Associates, a franchise of Reliance Money, where he provided portfolio advisory services and engaged in proprietary trading.
In 2010, Kamath co-founded Zerodha with his brother Nikhil Kamath. The company introduced a discount broking model in India, offering a flat fee of â¹20 per trade regardless of order size, in contrast to percentage-based fee structures used by traditional brokers.
The discount-broking model contributed to the firm's growth without significant spending on advertising or venture-capital funding. By 2020, Zerodha reported a self-assessed valuation of approximately US$1 billion.
In 2015, Kamath founded Rainmatter, a fintech fund and incubator that supports startups working in financial technology. He also co-founded True Beacon, an investment management firm, together with Nikhil Kamath.
Nithin Kamath married Seema Patil in 2008. They have a son named Kiaan.