Fintech major Zerodha has recorded an operational revenue of ₹4,964 crore in FY22 which is almost 82 per cent growth over the ₹2,729 crore revenue recorded in FY21, according to the company’s recent MCA filings. Further, the company reported a profit of ₹2,094 crore in FY 22, which is 86 per cent higher than the company’s ₹1,122 crore profit in FY21.
Zerodha’s revenue streams include the sale of tech products like Kite Connect API, exchange transaction fees, collections from user onboarding and brokerage fees.
₹200-crore ESOP
Under expenses, exchange transaction charges are the major expense for the company, followed by employee benefit expenses and information technology expenses. In November 2021, Zerodha was planning a ₹200 crore ESOP buyback at a valuation of $2 billion and in FY21, the fintech company did an ESOP buyback worth ₹65 crore from its employees.
In August 2022, Zerodha touched the one-crore customers mark, a milestone that CEO Nithin Kamath attributed to the use of Aadhar for opening online accounts. At that time, Kamath said, ”I can’t thank the Government and SEBI, and Exchanges & Depositories enough for making this happen.” He added a few more things that proved to be an unintended benefit for the company including Zerodha’s decision to rely on word-of-mouth for customer acquisition, among others.”
He noted that Zerodha’s plan to rely on word-of-mouth and having a single offering for all customers had benefits that the company never thought of at the start. Economies of scale kicked in not just in tech but across support and operations; the Zerodha team size has remained the same as it went from 20 lakh to one crore clients.