Online brokerage platform Zerodha’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nithin Kamath, in a recent social media post, explained how the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) new lending rules for broking companies will impact the stock market investors.
In the case of Zerodha, Nithin Kamath explained that this update from the central bank will not have any impact for the investors using Zerodha’s trading platform claiming that the company does not have any external financing.
Kamath also said that as the brokerage firm is a self-clearing member, the charges imposed on the customers will also remain unchanged after the new RBI norms update.
“Firstly, nothing changes for any of our customers. We have 0 external financing, and are a self-clearing member, so our charges for clients will also remain unaffected,” said Nithin Kamath in his LinkedIn post on 16 February 2026.
Will charges rise for other brokerages?
Although Kamath said that Zerodha clients will not be affected due to this RBI update; however, the central bank’s new mandate may increase costs across the board for brokerage companies.
Nithin Kamath said that this move may or may not be passed on to the investors using the platform, depending on the individual companies.
“Costs are rising across the board for brokerages, and this may or may not get passed to you, the customer,” said the executive in his post.
What changes do RBI’s new norms bring?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that the new lending norms will be effective from 1 April 2026, or an earlier date when adopted by a bank in entirety, according to the official release.
As per the announcement, the RBI norms bring a set of consolidated rules on how institutional lenders like the banks will lend money to the capital market intermediaries (CMI) like stockbrokers, clearing members, professional clearing members, custodians, and other market intermediaries.
“Here’s how it worked—prop desks would deposit an FD of ₹50 crore, get a bank guarantee for ₹100 crore, and place it with the clearing corporation for margins to trade with 2x leverage. That’s now completely shut down,” said Nithin Kamath in his post.
Through this move, RBI seeks to ensure that the bank credit is used for client and settlement-related purposes, and not provide cheap leverage for trading risk in the hands of the intermediaries, according to a Zerodha blog.
RBI standardised collateral expectations for different kinds of bank support to the CMIs, like loans, intraday limits, and guarantees, among other things. The Zerodha co-founder also highlighted how the clearing members will not attract higher collateral requirements under the new mandate.
“Another change: Professional Clearing Members (PCMs) enjoyed lower collateral requirements—they only needed 25% collateral to get a ₹100 bank guarantee, while other intermediaries had to put up 50%. That preferential treatment is now gone. PCMs also need 50% collateral going forward. This likely means higher costs for brokers who rely on PCMs for clearing. Doesn’t impact us at Zerodha since we self-clear across all segments,” said Kamath.
The Reserve Bank of India’s new mandate also tightens regulations on the conditions under which the banks will be able to extend credit or issue guarantees to the parties.
Will intraday funding become more expensive?
For brokers, the central bank marked a clear distinction between client facilitation and brokers’ own proprietary positions, according to the blog.
Nithin Kamath highlighted that due to the new RBI mandate, the intraday funding is set to become more expensive, along with a higher cost for margin trading facilities (MTF) due to the need for more collateral.
“Now, because of this circular, intraday funding will get more expensive with the new 100% collateral requirement (up from 50%). MTF financing will also likely cost more since banks now need 100% collateral with at least 50% as cash or cash equivalents. All of this kicks in from April 1, 2026,” said Kamath in his post.
Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations expressed are those of individual analysts or broking firms, not Mint.
