Zerodha Founder and CEO Nithin Kamath appeared to take a swipe at rival platforms after Groww, India’s largest stockbroker by active users, rolled out regular mutual funds under its Groww Prime platform.
In a post on X, Kamath said platforms that launched with direct mutual fund offerings alongside Zerodha’s Coin have either “disappeared or pivoted to something else”, while others are reconsidering their decision to offer direct plans.
When we started the discount brokerage (flat fee per trade) model in India in 2010, we decided to charge the same fee regardless of trade size. The logic was simple: if the effort to execute a trade is the same, why should customers pay differently? We applied the same logic to… pic.twitter.com/we0sogPJdY
— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) July 9, 2026
“It’s interesting that most of the direct MF platforms that started when we launched Coin have either disappeared or pivoted to something else. The few remaining platforms are also rethinking their choice of offering direct plans. However, at Zerodha, we will continue to offer direct mutual funds for free,” Kamath said.
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His remarks come after Bengaluru-based Groww expanded into regular mutual funds through its subscription-based Groww Prime platform. The product, initially launched for a select set of users earlier this year, has now been rolled out to the company’s two-crore customer base.
Groww had previously offered only direct mutual funds, positioning them as a low-cost investment option that can generate better long-term returns by eliminating distributor commissions.
Defending Zerodha’s approach, Kamath said the firm’s pricing philosophy has remained unchanged since it pioneered the discount brokerage model in 2010.
“When we started the discount brokerage model in India in 2010, we decided to charge the same fee regardless of trade size. The logic was simple: if the effort to execute a trade is the same, why should customers pay differently?” he said.
Kamath added that Zerodha followed the same principle while launching Coin, choosing to offer only direct mutual funds instead of charging commissions through regular plans.
“You can’t call yourself a discount or a low-cost broker if you charge a percentage fee on transactions, because there’s no incremental effort in executing a larger order,” he said.
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According to Kamath, Coin has grown into India’s largest direct mutual fund platform with nearly Rs 1.6 lakh crore in direct mutual fund assets under management, helping customers save thousands of crores in commissions.
He also urged investors to check whether they hold direct or regular mutual funds, saying Zerodha would help customers switch to direct plans if they wished.
Regular mutual funds pay commissions to distributors such as wealth managers, portfolio management services and stockbroking platforms in return for investment advice and product recommendations. Direct plans, on the other hand, eliminate distributor commissions and are generally preferred by self-directed investors.
Amid the row, Groww issued a response, saying that there’s “some confusion” related to the recent developments.
We’ve seen some confusion and some misinformation about Groww’s mutual fund offering. So let us be unambiguous.
Direct mutual funds are, and will remain, the heart of Groww. Over 1 crore investors have built more than ₹1.9 lakh crore of mutual fund investments on our platform,… https://t.co/GTzhpih7TL
— Groww (@_groww) July 9, 2026
“Direct mutual funds are, and will remain, the heart of Groww. Over 1 crore investors have built more than Rs 1.9 lakh crore of mutual fund investments on our platform, making Groww the largest mutual fund platform in the country. For every DIY investor, Groww stays exactly what it has always been: direct, zero-commission, and free. Forever. We will keep shipping new features for direct MF investors,” it said.
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