SUMMARY
- Estimates differ: Forbes tracked Nithin Kamath near $4.7 billion in September, while Bloomberg put the Kamath brothers together at $9.9 billion.
- Zerodha never took outside funding, earned roughly ₹4,300 crore in FY26 profit, and was valued at about ₹86,660 crore by Hurun.
- Founders can copy the discipline: stay profitable, keep ownership tight, and test your own valuation with a free calculator.
Search for Nithin Kamath net worth and you’ll find several different numbers. They’re all defensible, and none of them is a bank balance.
Here’s the short version. Forbes’ real-time tracker had Nithin at about $4.7 billion in September. Bloomberg, in a finance-wealth list covered by Business Today, put the Kamath brothers together at $9.9 billion. And the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2026 lists the pair at a combined ₹98,900 crore.
What each tracker says
| Source | Who | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forbes real-time | Nithin | about $4.7 billion | Sept 2026, moves daily |
| Forbes real-time | Nikhil | about $3.1 billion | Aug 2026 |
| Bloomberg | Both brothers | $9.9 billion | Aug 2026 |
| M3M Hurun India Rich List 2026 | Both brothers | ₹98,900 crore | Released Sept 2026 |
Nobody is wrong here. Zerodha is an unlisted company, so there’s no share price to multiply by a stake. Each tracker estimates the company’s value its own way, and the gaps follow from that.
What Zerodha itself is worth
The best public yardstick is the Burgundy Private Hurun India 500. In the 2024 edition, Zerodha was valued at ₹87,750 crore, up 50%. In the 2025 edition, it slipped about 1% to ₹86,660 crore.
Forbes has put the company at close to $8 billion, as IPO Central notes. Every range here is an estimate, not a deal price. No investor has ever bought Zerodha shares at a stated price, which is exactly why it’s hard to pin down.
The profit behind the number
Valuation follows earnings, and Zerodha’s have been steady rather than spectacular lately. Profit after tax was about ₹4,237 crore in FY25, a drop of roughly 22%. In FY26 it came in around ₹4,300 crore, up only about 1%.
Flat profit alongside a flat valuation points to a company at a plateau, not one in trouble. Zerodha now has more than 17.5 million clients, up from 30,000 in 2013 and 800,000 in 2018.
What the founders actually take home
Net worth isn’t salary, but the question comes up often. In 2021, Zerodha’s board approved pay of up to ₹100 crore a year each for Nithin, Nikhil and Seema Patil.
That’s a ceiling, not a payslip. We haven’t found a reliable source for what they actually draw today, so we won’t guess.
How the fortune grew
Hurun has tracked the brothers for years. Reading across its lists, the combined figure has climbed sharply.
| Year | Combined wealth (Hurun) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | ₹24,000 crore |
| 2023 | ₹58,400 crore (Nithin ₹35,300 crore plus Nikhil ₹23,100 crore) |
| 2026 | ₹98,900 crore |
These come from different Hurun lists, so treat the trend as a direction rather than an exact series. Even so, it’s a fourfold rise in six years, with no outside capital behind it.
No VC, and it shows
Zerodha has never raised outside funding and is closely held by its founders. Nithin said back in 2021 that the firm was unlikely to raise external resources.
It isn’t alone. Zoho, another Indian company that never took VC money, was valued at ₹1,03,760 crore in the same Hurun list. We’ve profiled more of them in our piece on the Indian founders who built big businesses without the VC playbook.
Read More: 10 Indian Founders Who Built Big Businesses Without the VC Playbook
For the other side of this story, including how Zerodha started, see our earlier profile:
Read More: Nithin Kamath and Zerodha: Founder Story and Valuation
What founders can take from it
First, a high valuation doesn’t need a funding round. Zerodha’s value comes from profit, and the profit comes from keeping costs low and charging customers directly.
Second, ownership is the real prize. When a company stays closely held, the founders capture the value. That’s why the brothers’ wealth tracks the company’s worth so closely.
Third, don’t rely on one number. If three respected trackers disagree on a company this well-known, your own valuation deserves a range too. Try the Startup Valuation Calculator to see where your business might land, and read How to Raise Startup Funding in India 2026 if you’re weighing a raise.
The three things to remember
- Nithin Kamath’s net worth ranges from about $4.7 billion (Forbes) to a combined $9.9 billion with Nikhil (Bloomberg), depending on who’s counting.
- Zerodha’s value comes from steady profit of about ₹4,300 crore, not from a funding round or a share price.
- Bootstrapped founders keep the upside, but valuations of unlisted companies are always estimates, never exact.
What would you have done differently if you owned a company like Zerodha? Tell us in the comments, share this with a founder who’s weighing a raise, or explore more founder stories on StartupIndiaX.
FAQs
What is Nithin Kamath’s net worth?
Forbes’ real-time tracker had Nithin at about $4.7 billion in September 2026. Bloomberg puts him and Nikhil together at $9.9 billion, and Hurun lists them at ₹98,900 crore combined.
Is Nithin Kamath richer than Nikhil Kamath?
Forbes’ tracker puts Nithin ahead, at about $4.7 billion against Nikhil’s roughly $3.1 billion. Hurun’s 2023 list showed the same order, at ₹35,300 crore and ₹23,100 crore.
How much is Zerodha worth?
Hurun valued Zerodha at ₹86,660 crore in its 2025 list, down about 1% from ₹87,750 crore the year before. Forbes has estimated nearly $8 billion. These are estimates, since Zerodha is unlisted.
Has Zerodha raised money from investors?
No. Zerodha has grown without outside funding and remains closely held by its founders. Nithin Kamath has said the company is unlikely to raise external capital.
How much profit does Zerodha make?
Zerodha earned about ₹4,237 crore in FY25 and roughly ₹4,300 crore in FY26, up about 1%. That makes it one of India’s most profitable bootstrapped companies.
