India’s niche brokers see sharp rise in active trading users

Most of India's largest brokerages have struggled to add active users so far in 2026, but several smaller and specialised platforms are bucking the trend, expanding their client base at a rapid pace. While their faster growth partly reflects a lower base, it also points to a shift among more experienced investors and traders towards these start-up platforms catering to specific investing and trading needs.

For instance, the active user base of Pocketful Fintech Capital, founded by New Delhi-based Pace Group, led the pack, surging over eightfold to 10,096 in August from 1,189 at the start of January. Zanskar Securities, backed by Peak XV Partners, saw its active user base jump 291% to 4,872 from 1,246, according to NSE data.

Among brokerages with a larger user base, Aaritya Broking, which operates the trading platform Sahi, saw active users climb 243% to 2.53 lakh from 0.74 lakh at the start of 2026.

The growth for these platforms has moved beyond low-cost brokerage fees, a key factor that drove the surge in client base of today's domestic broking giants such as Groww, Zerodha and Angel One among others. "The last decade was really about accessibility and low cost, which we believe is now a solved problem," said Dale Vaz, CEO and co-founder of Sahi. "As users become more familiar with the markets, they are looking for products and tools that help them make more informed decisions rather than just a buy-sell button."

Vaz, Swiggy's former CTO, said Sahi's growth has been driven by traders switching from larger brokerages to its single-screen trading platform, which integrates charts, option chains, positions and order execution into one interface.

Several other smaller brokerages also recorded sharp increases in active users. South Asian Stocks, which operates Stocko, saw active users rise 217%, while Nu Investors Technologies, which operates Lemonn, recorded a 145% increase.

The growth contrasts with a relatively subdued performance among the biggest discount brokers, whose user base expansion has slowed partly on account of the higher base. Zerodha and Angel One recorded declines of about 1% each in 2026, while Upstox's active users fell 10%. Groww, the country's largest broker, was an outlier, with its active user base up 10% during the period.

Kotak Securities added just 2% to its active user base, while HDFC Securities reported a 7% decline. Dhan, operated by Raise Securities, fared better with a 12.5% increase, while SBICAP Securities and Motilal Oswal Financial Services posted declines of 8% and 0.5%, respectively.