Zerodha's Nithin Kamath Credits Mukesh Ambani's Jio For India's Stock Market Boom

Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has credited Reliance Jio, alongside Airtel, Aadhaar and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), for helping transform India's digital economy and expanding access to stock market investments.

In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Kamath recalled appearing alongside Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on an Economic Times list of 10 businessmen to watch in 2016.

Sharing a snapshot of the list published in 2015, he noted that Ambani occupied the top position while he was ranked sixth.

At the time, Zerodha had recently introduced zero brokerage on equity delivery trades, while Jio was preparing to enter India's telecommunications market.

Kamath Recalls Sharing Business Leaders List With Ambani

Kamath said he initially felt intimidated by his inclusion alongside established business leaders, given Zerodha's relatively modest scale.

He acknowledged that the brokerage remained considerably smaller than Reliance Industries and Jio.

However, reflecting on the subsequent decade, Kamath said Jio's most significant contribution extended beyond its commercial success.

He highlighted how affordable mobile internet helped millions of Indians access digital services, creating opportunities for businesses across industries.

According to Kamath, this connectivity expansion played an important role in supporting India's growing online business ecosystem.

Affordable Internet Helped Drive India's Stock Market Growth

Kamath said Zerodha's development depended heavily on India's digital public infrastructure, particularly Aadhaar and UPI.

He also credited Jio and Airtel with making mobile data more accessible, enabling internet-based companies to reach a wider customer base.

The combined impact of these developments, he said, helped accelerate participation in India's capital markets following the Covid pandemic.

Kamath pointed to the sharp increase in individual investors as evidence of this transformation.

India had approximately two crore unique stock market investors in 2016, compared with more than 13 crore today, according to figures he cited.

He suggested that without affordable connectivity and digital infrastructure, many online-first businesses would have remained considerably smaller.

Although his comments came ahead of Jio's initial public offering (IPO), Kamath did not recommend whether investors should subscribe.

Instead, he highlighted how the digital ecosystem Jio helped develop could now support the company's own fundraising through India's capital markets.