Walmart Inc-backed financial technology company PhonePe on Wednesday said it has launched a stockbroking platform, as it looks to gain a foothold in the country’s burgeoning fintech market with its 480 million users.
The stockbroking platform, called Share.Market, is expected to compete directly with Zerodha, which is one of the few profitable bootstrapped unicorns in India. Other notable players in the market include Upstox and Groww, which are both backed by Tiger Global.
The platform, under its subsidiary PhonePe Wealth Broking, is available as a mobile app and a dedicated web platform, enabling retail investors to Buy Stocks, do intra-day trades, and buy curated WealthBaskets and mutual funds.
Share.Market charges a one-time onboarding fee of Rs 199, in line with Rs200 charged by Zerodha.
“In the last few years, we have seen an increase in the percentage of savings going into equities. There is vibrant growth in the active trading community which trades with different objectives,” Ujjwal Jain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Share.Market, said.
According to a recent report by Motilal Oswal, India’s top five stock brokers controlled about 60% of the market, with Zerodha leading with about 19%. followed by Groww, Upstox and Angel Broking.
Founded in 2015, PhonePe controlled a 46% share of the payments market in December, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
In May, the company raised another $100 million investment from global private equity firm General Atlantic as part of its ongoing fundraising of $1 billion. It is expected to raise another $200 million.
In the past, PhonePe has said it will use the funds to build and scale new businesses like insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-based shopping, and account aggregators.
In June, Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer said Flipkart marketplace and PhonePe payments in India could be $100 billion businesses buoyed by strong growth.