'Never hired IIT, IIM students', says Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath

Mumbai: Many assume that IIT and IIM degrees will always remian high in demand when it comes to India's corporate world, but one of the country's most successful startups, Zerodha, has never hired anyone with a degree from these illustrious institutions.

"We've never hired a single person from IIT or IIM until now because we've found it very difficult to fit such people within the organisation," said Nithin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha, on a podcast.

He said the graduates from these organizations are more focused on developing their careers instead of thinking about the growth of the company. “The thing about IITs and IIMs is that when you’re in that kind of environment, you’re wired to think about how quickly you can grow in life. This culturally doesn’t fit well (at Zerodha) because we can’t tell people how quickly they can grow,” Kamath said.

He went on to say that a candidate's passion is more important to him than their education. We look to see if the core team, the people who do important things at Zerodha, are passionate about the cause, says Kamath who believes that a prospective candidate's education is irrelevant.

“If you’re okay getting up every day, doing something different, and looking to keep getting better as a business — if you’re okay with taking that chance, we can hire you,” he said.