Nithin Kamath says Robinhood makes $100 million profit from instant withdrawals, claims US banking system ‘broken’
Nithin Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, on Tuesday reviewed how brokers in the US charge customers for performing instant withdrawals and how they differ from those in India.
In a post on
“I just discovered that Robinhood will generate approximately $150 million in revenue (~ ₹1,300 crore revenue was generated from the fees it charged customers for instant withdrawals. The cost of processing these is around $35-40 million, which ultimately translates to $100 million, and this is due to instant withdrawals,” said Nithin Kamath.
India is far behind the USA in this regard
In the post, Nithin Kamath highlighted that India is far behind the US when it comes to customers willing to pay for additional services, with even revenue-hungry startups offering other products.
“As an Indian startup of some scale, the founders dream of generating revenue this way from non-core products. Hence the rush to introduce everything: loans, insurance, payments and other financial services,” Zerodha CEO said.
“But apart from the basic offering, nothing really works. This shows how far behind India is compared to the US when it comes to customers willing to pay for add-ons,” he added.
Nithin Kamath welcomes UPI
Expressing his shock at the transaction fees paid by people in the US, Nithin Kamath praised India’s UPI, which is not only instant but also free. In the US, investors pay 1.75% as an instant withdrawal fee.
“By the way, I’m still surprised that people pay 1.75% on instant withdrawals. This really shows how broken the US banking system is. Even in 2025, there is still no full-fledged instant payment system like UPI; most fund transfers take several days,” he said.
The Zerodha co-founder added a note stating that Robinhood charges customers 1.75% per transaction for instant withdrawals. The minimum amount payable for instant withdrawal is $1 per transaction. The maximum amount can go up to $150. Other brokers, such as Charles Schwab and Fidelity, also charge customers a cut for instant withdrawals, according to the chart.
Praising the UPI system, Nithin Kamath said that it allows Zerodha customers to deposit or withdraw money instantly without paying any fees.
“In comparison, we do not charge Zerodha customers for deposits (thanks to UPI) or instant withdrawals. ₹50,000 crore with instant withdrawal in less than 2 years at zero cost,” he added.
