Raising Two Billionaires: Revathi Kamath on how family shaped Zerodha

Revathi Kamath, mother of entrepreneurs Nikhil and Nithin Kamath, recalled the journey of the two brothers who started as traders and went on to be billionaire founders.

Against the backdrop of Nikhil Kamath being rated India’s youngest billionaire by Forbes, his mother Revathi recounted the stark difference in how the two brothers handle things emotionally, and the bond of their family shaping the company to what it is today.

The 37-year-old emerged as the youngest billionaire with a net worth of $3.1 billion according to the Forbes Billionaires List 2024.    

“Nikhil Kamath cofounded discount brokerage Zerodha in 2010 with his older brother Nithin Kamath. It went on to disrupt the brokerage market in India. The Bengaluru-based Zerodha, has 10 million clients, making it one of the largest brokerage firms in the country," Forbes wrote about the businessman.

The family of four is based in Karnataka’s Udupi. Revathi recounted how the brothers started Kamath Associates in the beginning with the husband’s guidance.

“Nikhil worked for a 24x7 call centre at the age of 17, during which he also started working with Indiabulls,” she said. 

She also spoke about how their sons would never concentrate on their studies, channelling their ambitions to starting a business.

On the brothers’ bond, she said Nithin treats Nikhil as a son. She also spoke about how contrary to expectations, Nikhil is careful with his money.

Notably, Nikhil is also the youngest Indian signatory of the Giving Pledge, having committed to give away half his wealth in June 2023.

She spoke of the emotional hardships the family faced after her husband passed away in December last year. It was also posted how the two brothers did not take a long pause before resuming work.

The boys used to take care of their father, she said, adding that they had donated Rs 25 lakhs to a school in his native village on their father’s birthday which brought tears to his eyes.

Recounting how the two brothers dealt with the loss of their father, she said while Nikhil knows how to control her emotions, Nithin is ‘tender at heart.’

In March, Nithin revealed he had a mild stroke. Revathi said he revealed about the post six weeks after the incident.

She said that Nithin was not active that day even at 11 am, which is unusual for him, and got alerted to take him to the hospital.

“He was not in a position to see his phone, not responding but came down himself when the heart attack happened,” she said.

Doctors had kept him in intensive care (ICU) for 48 hours and detected a clot the size of a small mustard.

Advising on the podcast that excess of everything is bad, she said too much of diet and exercise is also not good.

“I just want him to sing again,” she wished.

Zerodha was built after a lot of failures, she said and spoke about how Nikhil left home at 17.

As a mother, Revathi said she tried motivating them to study, giving them activities like making rangoli and teaching salad decoration.

The family values kept the family knitted together through success and failure, she said, adding that family values played an important role in big businesses' growth.

Her husband was a banker who helped them set up Zerodha, and the couple was also a key investor in the company. Apart from teaching her financial management, he also taught the brothers about respecting money and not wasting resources.