Nikhil Kamath is an Indian entrepreneur, trader and investor. He is best known for being the co-founder of the financial services company Zerodha.
Wiki/Biography
Nikhil Kamath was born on Friday, September 5, 1986 (37 years old; as of 2023) in Shimoga, Karnataka. His star sign is Virgo. He attended Oxford Higher Secondary School in JP Nagar, Bangalore, but later dropped out after completing 10th grade.
Nikhil Kamath with his father and brothers as a child
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 9″
Eye color: dark brown
Hair color: Black
Family and caste
He was born into a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin Hindu family.
Parents and siblings
His father, Raghuram Kamath, is a retired employee of Canara Bank. His mother, Revathi Kamath, is an environmentalist and veena player. His elder brother, Nithin Kamath, is the co-founder of Zerodha.
Nikhil Kamath with his father
Nikhil Kamath with his mother and brothers
Wife and children
On April 18, 2019, he married Amanda Puravankara, who is a director at Provident Housing Ltd, Bengaluru, Florence, Italy.
Nikhil Kamath and his wife
After nearly a year of marriage, the couple divorced.
Relationship/affair
Manushi Chillal
In 2021, he started dating Miss India 2017 title winner Manushi Chhillar; however, in 2023, reports of their breakup surfaced.
Manushi Chhillar and Nikhil Kamath in Rishikesh
Rhea Chakraborty
In 2023, amid reports of his breakup with Manushi Chhillar, rumours circulated that Nikhil Kamath started dating actor Rhea Chakraborty.
Rhea Chakraborty
Profession
During his school days, he had little interest in studies as he did not understand the practicality of the subjects and the only subject he liked was mathematics. At the age of 14, he started selling old mobile phones but his mother asked him to shut down the business. At the age of 17, he started working in a call center for an annual salary of Rs 8,000. According to some sources, he even forged his birth certificate as the minimum age requirement for the job was 18. He used to work in the call center from 4 pm to 1 am and worked as a stock trader in the mornings. It was then that he left his parental house and lived with his girlfriend. In an interview, he talked about moving out of his parental home and he said,
I learned a lot; when you get out of the family ecosystem and the judgement of your relatives, you can really see what’s real.”
Soon, he learned the ropes of stock trading and started managing his father’s savings. He then convinced the manager of the call center to allow him to manage the funds in return for extra incentives. In 2004, he quit his call center job and started a stock trading company, Kamath Associates, with his brother. Nearly four years later, the brothers started “Zerodha,” a trading platform that was a combination of two words, “Zero” and “Rodha” (Rodha means barrier in Sanskrit).
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Zerodha emerged as India’s largest trading platform, growing its user base by 100% month-on-month. Zerodha’s unique selling point is that it charges a nominal fee of Rs 20 for every intraday trade, regardless of size. As per 2021 statistics, Zerodha processes over 5 million orders (worth over $1 billion) per day, accounting for approximately 15% of India’s daily equity trading volume.
In 2014, Nikhil and his brother founded the hedge fund ‘Rainmatter’ with a capital of Rs 50 crore to provide financial assistance to tech startups. They had a policy that every investment they handled had to be below $1 million. Some of the investments include Digio, Learnapp, Finception, Smallcase, Sensibull and Quicko. The Kamath brothers founded an asset management company ‘True Beacon’ in 2019 to invest in the alternative investment fund (AIF) space. By 2020, Zerodha will set up a mutual fund-based asset management company.
dispute
In June 2021, he faced charges of using a misleading tool when he participated in Viswanathan Anand’s online chess tournament with celebrities on June 13, 2021. The event was organized by chess.com. In the tournament, Kamath was the only one among nine celebrities to defeat Anand as all celebrities including actor Aamir Khan, cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and singer Arijit Singh lost. Later, it was discovered that he used the help of a computer to defeat Anand, following which chess.com closed his account for “violation of fair play policy”. Later, Kamath admitted to using computer-aided tools and issued an apology statement on Twitter.
I had help from people analysing the match, computers and the generosity of Mr Anand himself who saw the match as a learning experience. It was for fun and charity. In hindsight it was stupid because I didn’t realise all the confusion it could cause. Sorry…”
address
Kingfisher Tower Bangalore
net worth
In April 2023, Nikhil and his brother Nithin Kamath officially joined the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires in 2023. Nikhil’s net worth is estimated to be $1.1 billion, ranking 2405th on the list.
Car Collection
- Porsche Boxter S Convertible
Bicycle Collection
Nikhil Kamath and his motorcycle
Watch Collection
- Octa Lune model by FP Journe
- 1990 Rose Gold Rolex Day-Date Model
- Franck Muller Cintrée Curvex 1998
- 2018 Blancpain Villeret Dress Watch
- The DBS model launched by the independent Swiss watchmaker De Bethune
Facts/Trivia
- Nikhil’s childhood was marked by frequent travels due to his father’s frequent job changes. When Nikhil was 9 years old, his family moved to Bangalore.
- His teacher was disappointed with his academic performance and wanted to punish him by not letting him take his 10th grade final exams. He then decided to drop out of school. In an interview, he said,
I dropped out of college without any plan – the only plan was to make money. I come from a typical middle-class Brahmin family – all my cousins were MBAs or PhDs, so I would ask questions like ‘What is he going to do with his life?'”
- He was a chess champion in school and participated in various state and national chess tournaments. In an interview, he said,
Chess teaches you how to work within a system structure, but also to try to be creative within the system.”
- He spoke about his journey in an interview, saying,
I have always worked hard and not sulked over failures. From a 14-year-old school dropout to working in a call centre, from Zerodha to True Beacon, I have found 2-3 things I know how to do well and stuck with them. Becoming a billionaire has not changed that – I am still the same person who works 85% of the day and lives with the insecurity of ‘what if it is taken away from me? ’ So my only advice is to not sweat these things – in 5 years, the things you worry about now will not matter anymore – so why not do what you have to do today and ‘foolishly believe’ that everything will be fine… no matter what?”
- His family and friends all called him Nik.
- Nikhil follows a non-vegetarian diet.
- In his spare time he enjoys painting and playing guitar.
- He has two tattoos, one on his left wrist that reads “Shalom” in English and Hebrew, and another on his right arm that reads “BE HERE NOW.”
Nikhil Kamath’s tattoo on his left wrist
Nikhil Kamath’s tattoos
- He was often spotted smoking and drinking.
- In 2020, at the age of 34, he became one of the youngest billionaires in India.
- In an interview, he talked about his relationship with his brother, saying,
My brother and I were close, more like friends. But he was as competitive as a 10-year-old boy, but in a friendly way.”
- Nikhil has been featured in various renowned business magazines.
Nikhil Kamath and his brother on the cover of the magazine
- Interviews of Nikhil and his brother Nithin have been published in many business magazines and newspapers.
Nikhil Kamath and his brother in a magazine interview
- He has a collection of more than 500 books and is a book lover.
- Nikhil Kamath has a pet dog named Hope.
- According to him in an interview, Russian chess grandmaster Kasparov is his idol.
- In June 2023, he joined the Giving Pledge Foundation founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in 2010, pledging to donate most of his wealth to the foundation, becoming the fourth Indian leader to join the organization. The previous Indian leaders who joined were Azim Premji, Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani. After joining the foundation, Nikhil said,
As a young philanthropist, I write this letter to express my gratitude for joining the Giving Pledge. Despite my young age, I am committed to making a positive impact on the world and believe that the Foundation’s mission to create a more equitable society aligns with my values and aspirations.”
- He considers Bengaluru to be his favorite city.
- In a May 2024 podcast, he spoke about his choice not to have children because of the amount of time it would take to raise one.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education