Nikhil Kamath Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Family, Biography & More StarsUnfolded

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Hometown: Shimoga, Karnataka

Marital Status: Divorced

Age: 36 Years

Nikhil Kamath

Nikhil Kamath

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nikhil Kamath

  • Does Nithin Kamath drink alcohol?: Yes Nikhil Kamath in a party

    Nikhil Kamath in a party

  • Does Nithin Kamath smoke?: Yes
  • Nikhil Kamath is a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur known for co-founding Zerodha, an Indian institutional brokerage firm and trading platform.
  • During his childhood, Nikhil had to travel a lot due to his father’s bank job. At the age of nine, he shifted to Bangalore and settled there with his family. Nikhil Kamath's childhood picture with his father and brother

    Nikhil Kamath’s childhood picture with his father and brother

  • According to him, he hated his time at school as he could never fathom the practicality of the education system. The only subject he was good at was maths.
  • While he was in school, he used to participate in chess competitions at the state and national level. In an interview with CNBC, he said,

Chess teaches you how to work under a structure in a system, but yet try and be creative within that system.”

  • Nikhil always had a business mind and was disinterested in his studies. His first business model was selling used phones, which he started at the age of 14. He had to shut that down due to his mother’s intervention. Reportedly, his mother threw his phones away as she felt he was too young for the business.
  • His teachers at school were not happy with his performance and wanted to reprimand him by not letting him appear for his 10th board examinations. It was at that point, Nikhil decided that it was best for him to drop out and look for other options. In an interview, he said,

    I had no plan when I dropped out–the only plan was to make money. I come from a typical, middle class, Brahmin family– all my cousins are the MBA, PhD kind, so questions like, ‘What’s he going to do with his life?’ were asked.”

  • After dropping out, Nikhil managed to get a job at a call centre at the age of 17 for a salary of meagre Rs 8000. Reportedly, he had to produce a fake birth certificate as the age requirement for that job was 18 years.
  • He did night shifts at the call centre from 4 pm to 1 am and started stock trading in the morning. During this time, he moved out of his parents’ house and lived with his girlfriend. In an interview, sharing his experience of moving out, he said,

I learnt a lot; when you move away from the family ecosystem and the judgement of relatives, you get down to the real stuff.”

  • After learning how to trade stocks, he started managing his father’s savings. Nikhil also convinced his manager at the call centre to let him manage his money. In return, the manager marked him present every day and even provided him with incentives.
  • Kamath quit that job in 2004 to start a trading firm called Kamath Associates with his elder brother Nithin, who was also working as a part-time stockbroker.
  • In 2010, Kamath brothers launched the trading platform Zerodha which is a combination of two words ‘Zero’ and ‘Rodha’ (Rodha is a Sanskrit word for barrier).
  • Zerodha became India’s biggest trading platform during the COVID-19 lockdown, with its user base increasing by 100% every month. The biggest selling of Zerodha is that a nominal fee of Rs. 20 is charged for every intra day trade, irrespective of its size.
  • As of 2021, Zerodha facilitates over 5 million orders (worth more than $1 billion) daily, which makes for about 15% of India’s daily equity volume.
  • Nikhil and his brother founded the hedge fund Rainmatter in 2014 with a capital of INR 50 crores. The purpose of the hedge fund was to fund tech start-ups. They made a policy that every investment they make should be lower than 1 million dollars. Some of the investments that panned out well include Digio, Learnapp, Finception, Smallcase, Sensibull, and Quicko.
  • In 2019, the team of Zerodha started another asset management company called True Beacon. The company focuses on investing in the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) space. The $2 million investment fund generated a 40% return in its first year by investing in volatile markets.
  • Zerodha is also planning to start a mutual fund based AMC and has applied for its license in 2020.
  • In a media interaction, while talking about his journey from a school dropout to a successful businessman, Nikhil said,

I’ve kept moving instead of sulking about what didn’t work out. From being a 14-year-old school dropout, to working at a call center, from Zerodha to True Beacon, I’ve figured out the 2-3 things I know how to do well, and stuck with them. And becoming a billionaire doesn’t change that–I’m still that guy who works 85% of the day and lives with the insecurity of, ‘What if it’s taken from me?’ So my only advice would be to not sweat about this stuff–5 years later, the things you’re worrying about now, won’t matter–so why not do what you have to today and have ‘stupid faith’ that it’ll all work out…somehow?”

  • In 2020, Nikhil became one of India’s youngest billionaire at the age of 34.
  • Talking about his relationship with his brother, he said,

My brother and I have a great relationship, we’re more like friends. He is, however, as competitive as a 10-year-old boy, but in a nice way.”

  • He has been featured on the cover page of various renowned business magazines. Nikhil Kamath featured on GQ magazine

    Nikhil Kamath featured on GQ magazine

  • His interviews have been published in various business magazines and newspapers. Nikhil Kamath and his brother featured on the Forbes magazine

    Nikhil Kamath and his brother featured on the Forbes magazine

  • Nikhil is an avid book lover and has more than 500 books in his collection.
  • Kamath owns a pet dog named Hope.
  • In an interview, he said that his idol was the Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
  • In June 2023, he joined the Giving Pledge Foundation started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in 2010 and pledged to donate most of his wealth to the foundation, becoming the fourth Indian leader to become a part of this community, following Azim Premji, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and Rohini and Nandan Nilekani. While expressing his gratitude for joining the foundation, he said,

    As a young philanthropist, I am writing to express my gratitude whilst joining the Giving Pledge. Despite my age, I am committed to positively impacting the world and believe that the foundation’s mission of creating a more equitable society aligns with my values and aspirations.”

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