Upstox makes stock mkt participation affordable

21/3/2018

PUNE: Upstox, the new-age online discount brokerage firm funded by Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital, and GVK Davix, is making an investment in equity markets affordable for the masses through its ‘zero brokerage’ online and mobile trading platforms.

Upstox was the first discount broker in India to introduce commission-free trading. It offers ‘zero’ brokerage on equity delivery trades and a flat rate of Rs. 20 per intraday order for all other segments. The high-end technology platform of Upstox can be supported on low bandwidth connections and without any lag and can seamlessly accept and execute orders. 

While Maharashtra comprises 25 per cent of the company’s total customer base, Pune is one of the fastest growing and most important markets for Upstox. It is the second biggest market for the company after Mumbai and comprises more than 5 per cent of its total customer base of over 80,000. Since the past one year, the company has witnessed a 300 per cent increase in customer participation from Pune. It is now looking at least three-fold growth in its client base from the city by the next year, leveraging on its ‘zero brokerage model’.

Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Upstox, says, “Pune has been a growing market for us. Most of the customers from the city are young professionals and in the age bracket of 20-30 years, who are more comfortable in using our technology platform, which is far superior to others, is reliable, can be easily used and very competitively priced.”

 “More and more investors are preferring technology platforms to participant on stock markets, because of obvious cost benefits and easy access. We will continue to launch innovations and deploy more intelligent technology solutions to tap a bigger chunk of clients from this city,” adds Shrini Viswanath, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Upstox. 

The discount brokerage company clocked a robust 200 per cent growth in revenues and client base in the past year between December 2016 and December 2017 owing to its strong technology-heavy model to provide best-in-industry brokerage services at the lowest of costs.  It is among those extremely rare venture capital-funded start-ups in India to have turned profitable at such an early stage.