In 2015, Nithin Kamath was busy making stockbroking cheaper. Mukesh Ambani, meanwhile, was preparing to make the internet cheaper for millions of Indians. Neither development appeared connected at the time, but the arrival of Jio would go on to transform the digital ecosystem that helped Zerodha grow and brought millions of new investors into India's stock markets.
The connection went far beyond two entrepreneurs appearing on the same list. Jio's affordable data, Airtel's expanding connectivity, Aadhaar's digital identity infrastructure and UPI's payment network collectively changed the economics of reaching customers online.
Kamath revisited this history in a post on X, linking his experience as a young entrepreneur to the growth of India's digital economy and the upcoming Jio IPO. His account offers a reminder that some of the biggest business success stories are built on infrastructure created by companies operating in entirely different industries.
The story began in 2015, when Jio was preparing to enter the telecom market. The following year, The Economic Times included Kamath among its 10 businessmen to watch. Ambani topped the list, while Kamath ranked sixth, following Zerodha's decision to make delivery brokerage free.
"When Jio was getting ready to launch in 2015, I remember being petrified to find myself on this Economic Times list of 10 businessmen to watch in 2016. Mukesh Ambani was #1, and I was #6, mainly because we had just made delivery brokerage free. We were, and still are, ants compared to Reliance/Jio. 😅