Nikhil Kamath is an Indian businessman,
entrepreneur, and co-founder of the stockbroker & asset management firm Zerodha. He was born in an Indian Hindu family on 5 September 1986 in Udupi, Karnataka. Nikhil Kamath and his older brother
Nithin Kamath co-founded Zerodha on 15 August 2010. He has been on Time Magazine's young billionaires list in 2023.
Early Life & Education
Nikhil Kamath was born in an Indian Brahmin Hindu family in Udupi, Karnataka. At nine years of age, he moved to Bangalore with his family where he enrolled at "Oxford Senior Secondary School" in JP Nagar. Since his childhood, Nikhil has been interested in business and not in studying, his teachers were not happy with his performance and they did not permit him to appear in the 10th-grade exam that year. This was the moment when Nikhil decided to leave the study and explore the other options
School: Oxford Senior Secondary School JP Nagar
Degree: No formal degree, drop out before 10th grade exam.
Nikhil Kamath as Enterpenure (Businesses & Startups)
After dropping out of school, at 14, Nikhil started a business of buying and selling second-hand (used) mobile phones. Her mother was unhappy with his mobile phone setting work so he closed that business and at 17 he made a fake birth certificate of 18 to join a call center where he was working 4 pm to 1 am nightshift job and getting 8K (INR) / month.
During his job at the call center, Nikhil started intraday equity trading. After a year of profitable trading, he got confident and started to manage his father's savings, he also convinced his call center manager to let him manage his money. During this period, after joining the call center, he left his parent's house and moved to live with his girlfriend.
His elder brother Nithin who graduated from Bangalore Institute of Technology, also was working as a part-time stockbroker. In 2004, Nikhil quit his call center job and started his stock trading firm "Kamath Associates" with his brother.
In 2010, after successfully running Kamath Associates for 6 years, they launched India's one of the most popular trading platforms Zerodha. As per September 2023 data, the company holds a 19.4% to 19.9% market share in the Indian stockbroking industry, this is the second-largest market cap.
In 2020, Nithin & Nikhil co-founded the asset management company True Beacon, this firm helps ultra-rich industrials to invest in the Indian stock market
In 2021, the brothers and Abhijeet Pai co-founded "Gruhas," a company focusing on real estate investments and property technology. Through its proptech-focused fund, the firm engages in investing in startups, incubators, and unique opportunities within the sector.
Nikhil Kamath Languages
Since childhood, due to his father's banking job, Nikhil Kamath has lived in several places where he learned different languages & cultures however he uses Kannada as the primary communication language whereas English as the writing language. Apart from Kannada and English, he learned several other languages like Hindi, Telugu, and a little bit of Tamil while working at the call center.