60% of Zerodha employees do not live in large cities; Nithin Kamath explains why

Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath believes that the village economy has immense potential. However, because people with higher income potential move to larger cities, the development of local economies is getting compromised, according to him. And for this reason, Kamath said, he has encouraged over 60 per cent of his team to move out of larger cities and add up to the 30,000 clusters across 20 villages in India. 
 
In a Twitter post he wrote on Tuesday, Kamath said, “One way to think of our developmental & sustainability challenges is to consider India as ~30,000 clusters of ~20 villages each. Clusters are like organizations, & today aren't self-sustaining since revenues are less than what they pay for goods & services. This has to change.” 
 
He further went on to add, “Today, most of the income generated by these clusters eventually ends up going back to the larger cities. This is because we consume food, goods, & services from outside the cluster even when they can potentially be produced within.”
 
Kamath also wrote that clusters not doing well will have many “second-order effects.” This means that clusters not developing results in the loss of long-term asset quality, health and nutrition, livelihoods, and impacts overall capacity and control. 
 
The solution, according to him, lies in a “radical rethinking.” It includes finding ways to develop and sustain these economies by the "entire bureaucratic machinery." “They have to help clusters become self-sustaining organizations that produce and generate revenues locally, reducing their outside dependence on goods, services, & more.”

He highlighted that the carbon footprint of transporting food, goods, and services from larger cities to the smaller ones is “massive.” But when the local economies are empowered enough to handle the demand-supply patterns, then it can help fight climate change even more.
 
The Zerodha founder is known for being a climate change supporter and enthusiast. He along with his brother, Nikhil Kamath (Co-founder of Zerodha) have invested in several climate tech start-ups through their investment and incubation entity - Rainmatter Climate.
 

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