Zerodha Gets Final Nod From Sebi To Launch Mutual Fund Business: Nithin Kamath

NEW DELHI: Broking firm Zerodha has received final approval from capital markets regulator Sebi to set up an asset management company, its founder and CEO Nithin Kamath said on Friday. Also, Kamath said that industry veteran Vishal Jain will be the new CEO of the AMC business.

In April, both Zerodha and Smallcase announced that they would set up a joint venture to launch the Zerodha AMC business. "We just received the final approval for the @ZerodhaAMC we are building in partnership with @smallcaseHQ," Kamath announced on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
In February 2020, Zerodha applied for a license to start mutual fund operations.

Explaining the reason for starting a mutual fund, Kamath said the first was the biggest challenge and opportunity for Indian markets is the shallow participation. "Even after all the growth over the last 3 years, we only have maybe 6-8 crore unique mutual fund and equity investors put together," he said.

The second reason was the need to buy simple mutual fund products. "We aim to be index-only and create simple funds and ETFs that all investors can understand and invest in for all their goals," he said. On Thursday, Helios Capital received Sebi's approval to launch a mutual fund business.

Old Bridge Capital Management Pvt Ltd is awaiting Sebi's final nod for a mutual fund licence. Besides, applications of three companies -- Unifi Capital Pvt Ltd, Alpha Alternatives Fund Advisors LLP and Wizemarkets Analytics Pvt Ltd -- are under the regulator's consideration as of June 2023, data with Sebi showed.