India's smaller brokerage platforms are experiencing unprecedented growth in active trading users, with Pocketful Fintech Capital leading the surge at over eightfold growth to 10,096 users in August from 1,189 at the start of January. According to The Economic Times, Zanskar Securities backed by Peak XV Partners recorded 291% growth to 4,872 users from 1,246, while Aaritya Broking's Sahi platform saw 243% growth to 2.53 lakh users from 0.74 lakh at the start of 2026. The growth reflects a shift among experienced investors toward platforms offering specialized tools and features beyond basic trading capabilities.
The growth pattern indicates a fundamental change in brokerage preferences, moving beyond the low-cost pricing that dominated the previous decade. As reported by The Economic Times, Dale Vaz, CEO and co-founder of Sahi, noted that "the last decade was really about accessibility and low cost, which we believe is now a solved problem." Smaller platforms like South Asian Stocks' Stocko and Nu Investors Technologies' Lemonn also recorded significant increases of 217% and 145% respectively. These platforms are attracting traders through specialized features like single-screen trading interfaces that integrate multiple tools into one platform.
In contrast, India's largest discount brokers are experiencing declining user growth, with Zerodha and Angel One recording declines of about 1% each in 2026, while Upstox saw active users fall 10%. According to The Economic Times, Groww, the country's largest broker, was an outlier with 10% growth during the period. Among established players, 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 12.5% increase, but SBICAP Securities and Motilal Oswal Financial Services posted declines of 8% and 0.5% respectively.
The success of smaller platforms is attributed to innovative technology solutions and specialized features that larger brokers haven't yet adopted. As reported by The Economic Times, Vaz, who previously served as Swiggy's CTO, explained that Sahi's growth has been driven by traders switching from larger brokerages to its single-screen trading platform that integrates charts, option chains, positions and order execution into one interface. This technological advantage, combined with the shift toward more sophisticated trading tools, is enabling these nimble platforms to capture market share from established players who are struggling to innovate beyond their core low-cost offerings.
