'Karma has a way of biting back': Spam calls remind Zerodha's Nithin Kamath of days as call centre worker

Pesky telemarketers remind Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath of his days at a call centre where he used to make unsolicited calls to people in the US.

Kamath in a post on X was talking about how his phone had become unusable due to telemarketing. "It is always on silent. Guess what goes around comes around. I spent four years at a call center, making unsolicited calls to people in the US. I guess Karma has a way of biting back".

Kamath was barely 17 when he began stock trading in the late 1990s with a few thousand rupees, supporting it with multiple side gigs such as call centre jobs to standing at a stall to earn ₹200 a day. But the dotcom bust of 2000s forced him to make outbound calls sitting in a 24/7 call centre. 

He then honed his trading skills with stints as a sub-broker, which led to Kamath Associates, a firm he ran with his brother Nikhil that managed money for others. In 2010, they launched Zerodha. 

According to a survey by LocalCircles, 6 out of 10 Indians get three or more telemarketing calls every day, with individuals selling financial services and real estate being top offenders. The survey claimed while 30% of the respondents get 1-2 spam calls on an average every day, 36% of those surveyed mentioned that they got 3-5 spam calls minimum almost daily, 21% of respondents said 6-10 spam calls, and 3% indicated over 10 unwanted calls. 

However, 4% of the respondents gave no clear response while 6% shared that they are fortunate not to “get any such phone calls”. The Centre had in February set up a committee to formulate guidelines to address the issue of pesky, promotional or unsolicited commercial calls received by consumers. The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has constituted a committee in this regard.  Telemarketers from various sectors have been advised to get 140 number series prefixed to their phone numbers so as help consumers to control what kind of calls or texts they want to receive.