Zerodha’s Kamath spots trend in investing

livemint.com:

₹100 crore from two entities backed by the Kamath brothers, Nitin and Nikhil, the co-founders of broking firm Zerodha. This investment was in private capacity and raises the family’s stake in the company to 3.5%. “This concept of investing in India has been encouraged —other investors like Rakesh Jhunjunwala did a fairly good job.

This trend of Indian companies being owned by foreign investors has to change and more Indian investors like me have to invest in such companies," Kamath added. The brothers invest via their investment firm Kamath Associates & NK Squared, which has backed consumer focussed companies like meat startup Licious and Third Wave Coffee. Nikhil Kamath declined to specify the quantum of investment by the firm, but noted that consumption is the common theme for most portfolio firms.

“Per capital income for Indians is rising, and $5,000 per person is the magic number. Once we reach that point, people will spend and this is a pre-emptive bet towards that." In gaming, there is no other listed entity in the segment, which made Nazara an attractive bet, he said. “At this point in time, I am not looking at any other gaming business," he said.

Kamath said that typically he invests 50% in equity, 10% in gold and the rest in debt instruments. Within equity, the majority of the investments are in public entities. While the Kamaths gained visibility through the success of their discount broking platform Zerodha Broking Ltd, Nikhil Kamath is also the founder of True Beacon, a category III focussed alternative investment vehicle that invests in the top-50 Nifty companies in India.