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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
India’s second-largest brokerage by active clients wants to handle IPOs as a merchant banker. But gaining a foothold in the highly competitive sector is easier said than done.
Back in 2010, when Zerodha introduced flat-fee discount broking in India, it revolutionized the way retail investors participate in capital markets. The country’s second-largest brokerage by active clients is relying on its disruptor reputation to now enter merchant banking.
Earlier this month, the Bengaluru-based bootstrapped company got the regulatory nod for a category-1 merchant banking licence, the highest-level approval for firms to act as full-service issue managers and corporate advisors.
Merchant banking has several layers. Corporate financial services, advisory, capital raising. But what Zerodha wants is to manage public issues, diving straight into the red-hot world of IPOs.
The ambition …
Thinly traded listed entities have long served as breeding grounds for stock manipulation, hurting investors. The regulator, the NSE and BSE now want to fix things by focusing on efficient delisting.
The newly announced levy on UPI payments undermines the very foundation of using digital payments for stock market investing. Brokers are in a tizzy.
Influence cannot be manufactured through diaspora networks, carefully branded events or political donations. It requires honesty and credibility.
