ICICI Securities used to be undisputed market leader in the Stock Broking business till end of 2018 when a Fin-tech company Zerodha, founded in 2010, overtook ICICI securities in client acquisition space with more than 8.5 lakh clients. This was made possible by the disruptive business model of discount brokerage offering where flat brokerage of Rs 20/- is charged for every delivery based trade irrespective of the amount. It would be pertinent to recollect the days when stock brokers used to shout scrip name for trades in the stock exchanges ring in 1990s, which has revolutionized to a few clicks on the mobile phone for execution of trade.
While orthodox brokers continue to focus on the stock trading over phone or providing exclusive terminal to clients for execution of trades besides providing ancillary services as well as research based trading tips, discount brokers have captured well-informed and active clients who are aware of the day-to-day developments in the stock market space. Tech savvy traders or investors wish to take trading decisions instantaneously for which a mobile trading platform suits them very well. Further, a flat or zero brokerage for every trade removes the worry of the high brokerage being charged by traditional brokerage houses though some of them have also moved to flat brokerages subject to a certain level of volume or threshold balance in savings account for bank-backed brokerage houses. In other words, investors or traders prefer app based smart trading platform on their fingertips to enable them to carry out trades from anywhere.
While opening a trading or 3-in-1 account has always been a tedious process for many, discount brokers have aptly handled these problems by using modern technology coupled with desired level of transparency in the trades. There platforms are customer-centric providing innovative solutions revolving around the client that permit them to carry out trade in a matter of few seconds. The focus of the discount brokers has been more number of trades to boost revenue rather than voluminous amount of limited transactions. With traders or investors becoming more knowledgeable, the need of the hour would be innovation, using modern technology and offering seamless user experience for trades. The question that would come to mind what next? The solution lies in offering MF advisory, Robo-advisory using AI, Payment solutions, Insurance and Stock broking under one roof to retain the clients.
When one discusses the leading discount brokers in India, the top spot is occupied by Zerodha which brought in the concept of flat brokerage in 2010, This Fin-tech company is one of the largest and fastest growing discount broker in India. Fin-tech company 5Paisa, backed by brokerage house IIFL, follows the leader in discount brokerage space. other prominent fin-tech companies in this space are Samco, SAS Online, Wisdom Capital, Upstox, Trade Smart Online and many others. Future of these fin-tech companies appears to be bright when Mission India is to become less-cash economy and going digital in every possible aspect. Perhaps gradually moving towards providing all financial solutions to the consumer under one umbrella along with promotional offerings!
Keep watching this space for more updates on Fin-tech development!
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