SEBI Grants Zerodha a Category-I Merchant Banking Licence

3 September 2026National

SEBI granted a Category-I merchant banking licence to Zerodha Corporate Advisors, the investment banking arm of the Bengaluru broker Zerodha, which applied on 27 April 2026 and was registered on 1 September 2026 as India's 249th registered merchant banker. The firm will begin with equity capital markets — IPOs, FPOs and advisory for issuers and investors — extending Zerodha's low-cost, no-hard-selling model into investment banking, with operations expected within months. Category-I merchant bankers may manage main-board public issues and undertake underwriting, and must hold a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore (raised from Rs 5 crore), capped at 20 times liquid net worth; Category-II bankers need Rs 10 crore.

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SEBI was set up in 1988 and became a statutory body on 12 April 1992 under the SEBI Act, 1992; headquartered in Mumbai | Zerodha was founded in August 2010 in Bengaluru by Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath | Merchant bankers in India are regulated under the SEBI (Merchant Bankers) Regulations, 1992

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