Online brokerage platform Zerodha launches equity, ETF SIP

Online brokerage platform Zerodhaon Thursday launched a feature that will help investors put their money in equity and ETF systematic investment plans (SIPs) — an option that users had been increasingly demanding.

The feature will help investors set up SIPs on their preferred stocks and ETFs at regular intervals, just like a mutual fund SIP, Nithin Kamath, Zerodha's Co-founder and CEO, said in a tweet.

ALSO READ

[App Fridays] Zerodha’s stock market learning app for ‘Robinhood Traders’ crosses a million downloads

To set up equity or an ETF SIP, users will first have to add their preferred stocks or ETFs to a 'basket', and then set up an investment schedule of their choosing. Stocks of one or more companies can be added to the 'basket'.

Users also have the option of adding both, stocks and ETFs, to the basket.

The feature is currently in beta, but will be "soon available" on Kite mobile, Nithin wrote.

The move has been already well-received by users who commented on Nithin's Twitter post that the option which allows users to customise and invest in equity and ETF SIPs cements the startup's position as a leader in the online brokerage space.

The unicorn startup has not only helped catalyse the online investing industry in India and seed other innovative investing solutions, but also created a new segment of mom-and-pop traders — known these days as 'Robinhood' traders.

The Bengaluru-based company entered the unicorn club last year after it 'conservatively' valued itself at $1 billion. Running the decade-old profitable company, Nithin and his brother, Nikhil, have eschewed the 'growth-at-any-cost' approach, and instead focussed on building a business that can outlast them, they told YourStory Mediain an interview last year.

smallcase, another online equity investing platform founded in 2015 by three IIT graduates, offers a service similar to the feature launched by Zerodha today. It allows investors to put their money in curated stocks and ETF SIPs that are designed on the basis of specific 'themes' and strategies that aim to net high returns for users.