"I’m amazed how the country even came together...": Nithin Kamath says Europe is 'cut, copy, paste' compared to India

Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath says India’s diversity isn’t just a strength — it’s a challenge. Fresh off a trip to Europe, Kamath compared the continent’s sameness to India’s complexity, calling the country “more like a continent than a nation.”

Posting on X, Kamath said, “Everything [in Europe] feels like a cut, copy, and paste with very small differences.” 

In India, he noted, the differences between states—from language to culture to food—are vast. “I’m amazed how the country even came together,” he added.

Kamath revisited his 2023 post, where he warned entrepreneurs against oversimplifying India’s potential. “Thinking ‘X% of 140 crore people can become customers like in a developed country’ is dangerous,” he wrote. 

He noted it’s easier to target affluent, English-speaking Indians but “much harder and complex” to scale beyond that. “India is many countries in one. What works in one state may not work in another,” he said.

Kamath’s insights aren’t just observations. They reflect lessons learned at Zerodha, the bootstrapped stockbroking firm he founded in 2010. Known for breaking barriers in cost and technology, the company has thrived, but Kamath acknowledges the uphill battle of navigating India’s complex market.

Kamath’s reflections on India’s diversity and its challenges don’t just stop at markets and entrepreneurship—they extend to the environment as well. 

Kamath had in  a recent post suggested a novel solution to tackle urban air and water pollution: link property prices to environmental quality.

Kamath’s idea, inspired by alarming pollution statistics, suggests that property values should reflect the quality of air and water in their surroundings. "If economics accounted for this, maybe we’d all figure it out,” he wrote. 

He argued that such a system would encourage property owners to invest in their neighborhoods’ overall well-being, not just their individual assets. “From caring for my house in JP Nagar to caring for the whole of JP Nagar—it could have a better outcome,” Kamath explained.