UP’s youth population is warming up to the concept of discount brokerage: Upstox
Witnessed 155% uptick in number of customers from Uttar Pradesh between 2016 and 2017
• Almost 80% of its customers from UP are in the age bracket of 19 to 38 years • Growth driven by its ‘zero brokerage model and completely paperless on-boarding and transaction facilities
• Also offers a discounted rate of Rs. 20 per trade for all intraday orders, irrespective of the trade size
• Online and mobile platforms of Upstox run smoothly on 2-G network and low-end smartphones
Lucknow, July 03, 2018: Upstox (formerly RKSV Securities), the new-age online discount brokerage firm funded by Mr. Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital and GVK Davix, is finding big takers among millennials and the youth population of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Total number of customers from UP, which constitutes the 6th largest market for Upstox, increased by 155 per cent between 2016 and 2017. Remarkably enough, almost 80 per cent of its customer base in the state fall within the age bracket of 19 to 38 years. The total number of orders placed from UP also increased by about 43% in the same period.
The online and mobile trading solutions of Upstox are even popular in the state capital Lucknow, as is evident from around 151 per cent increase in client participation and 27% increase in the total number of orders from the city between 2016 and 2017.
Upstox was the first discount broker in India to introduce commission-free trading. High costs and complicated processes involved in buying and selling of shares through the traditional broker route were the biggest deterrents for retail investors earlier.
Upstox’s ‘zero brokerage’ model, thus, became a huge hit with investors, especially for the tech and mobile savvy youth in smaller towns and cities. Even for seasoned intraday traders, Upstox charges a flat rate of Rs. 20 per order, irrespective of the size of the order. Apart from the cost benefits, easy on-boarding process, Aadhaar-based e-KYC and paperless transaction facilities further made it easier for retail investors to invest in stocks using the Upstox platform. Both the mobile and online trading platforms of Upstox are extremely resilient, cost effective and can accept and execute orders seamlessly without any lags even on low-end smartphones and in areas with low bandwidth connectivity.
“Mobile and internet revolution has enabled a greater connectivity with the young population of our country. As is evident from our growth trends in UP, we are able to get more and more young investors and the millennials into the fold of stock market investing, directly or through the mutual fund route on our mobile and internet platforms. The familiarity factor of these two mediums comes into a big play to convince young investors and make them confident about connecting with the markets online. In addition, our zero brokerage fee model has also made market investments extremely pocket friendly,” says Mr. Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Upstox.
These unique advantages to retail investors have been driving unprecedented growth for the discount brokerage firm over the last couple of years. The total all-India client-base and revenues for Upstox both grew by 200 per cent in the past one year. Its client-base increased to 100,000 at the beginning of this year from just 25,000 in the year-ago period.
Upstox’s contribution to the exchanges’ daily notional turnover increased to a range of Rs 14,000-18,000 crores per day from around Rs 5,000-6,000 crores per day last year. This high-growth performance has catapulted Upstox to the league of those extremely rare venture capital-funded startups in India that turned profitable at an early stage.
