Top News

Discount brokering major Zerodha has announced new measures to revive customer interest amid increased competition in the space. 

Starting June 1, the brokerage firm has eliminated account maintenance charges (AMC) for all new users for the first year of use. It has also initiated offering refunds on depository fees for transferring existing stock portfolios. 

“Both changes are meant to remove small costs that often feel bigger than they actually are when you’re just getting started or switching brokers,” Zerodha said in a blog post today.

The transfer fee refund is aimed to ease the process of consolidating one’s portfolio on one platform. Brokerages typically levy a fee of around ₹10-30 per stock on individuals transferring their holdings to a rival. 

Zerodha said it will now refund these charges up to ₹500 per user. 

Newly registered users and existing Zerodha account holders who choose to consolidate their portfolios onto the platform are both eligible to receive refunds on transfer fees under the new policy. 

Zerodha is also waiving the AMC for the first 12 months on all newly opened accounts, regardless of the value of the account’s holdings. Beyond the first year, accounts will transition to the standard AMC protocols. 

The company said that the actual AMC is either zero or very low because of the basic services demat account (BSDA) categorisation. “But just knowing there’s a recurring charge can make people pause before opening an account,” noted Zerodha. 

For context, BSDA is an account categorisation for investors who only have one registered demat account and holdings below ₹10 Lakh in value. BSDA accounts with portfolios valued below ₹4 Lakh are not charged AMC, while portfolios between ₹4 Lakh and ₹10 Lakh are charged ₹100 annually. 

For non-BSDA accounts and those with holdings valued at over ₹10 Lakh, Zerodha’s AMC differs based on the investor category. Individual investors are charged ₹300 per year while NRIs pay ₹500 per year and corporates pay ₹1,000 per year. 

While Zerodha’s stated justification for the policy change is to attract new investors, the move could also be connected to the competitive dynamics in the retail brokerage space. Once the undisputed leader, Zerodha has been facing pressure from fast-growing competitors like Groww and Dhan, who charge zero AMC. 

Listed fintech Groww has been firmly in the lead over the past couple of years. In the month of April, Groww’s user base stood at 1.30 Cr while Zerodha maintained its second position with 68.84 Lakh users.

While the two players have been in the top position for a long time, other players are closing in sharply. Angel One, the third largest discount brokerage, closed in with 67.63 Lakh users. 

Looking at the change over the past six months from Oct 2025 to April 2026, Zerodha has lost 2% of its active user base, as its user base had been declining for several months last year until it finally reversed the trend in January. Meanwhile, Groww increased its user base by 8.1% and Dhan, by 7.1%, in the same period. 

For context, the total number of active users in the industry saw a net increase of around 1.1% over the last six months. However, Groww and Dhan were among the very few brokerages that saw strong growth in their active user count. 

The post Zerodha Rolls Out New Measures To Woo Investors Amid Intensifying Competition appeared first on Inc42 Media.