Zerodha, India’s largest stock broking firm, has wound down Zero1, its creator partnership program that supported independent content creators working on finance, health, and climate topics. The initiative, which ran for over a year and reached significant scale, has been shut down amid regulatory concerns, the company confirmed.
“There was a lot of regulatory uncertainty around the entire initiative and we took a call to wind this down.” — said Zerodha, in an official statement
Zero1 was conceptualised as a departure from the short-form fin-fluencer ecosystem that dominates financial content in India. It backed long-form, storytelling-driven creators across multiple sectors — an unusual bet for a broking firm navigating SEBI’s increasingly tight framework around financial influencer regulation.
Going forward, Zerodha says it will consolidate all content under its own direct ownership. The company already operates a wide education and content footprint, including Varsity (available in English and Hindi), Rainmatter, Markets by Zerodha, and several Zero1-branded channels. It also funds LearnApp, a startup it backed in 2018, which will continue building Zero1-branded and company-owned financial literacy properties. In 2023, Zerodha partnered with LearnApp to launch Zero1.
SEBI’s evolving stance on financial influencers has created significant uncertainty for platforms and companies that operate at the intersection of content and financial advice. The regulator has repeatedly flagged the risks of unregistered investment advisors using creator frameworks to reach retail audiences — and Zerodha, as a regulated entity, would be acutely sensitive to any initiative that could attract scrutiny.
Zero1’s model, while explicitly focused on storytelling rather than stock tips, likely created operational grey areas around creator independence, content approval, and liability. The shutdown is less about Zero1’s performance — Zerodha says it achieved significant reach — and more about the risk calculus of maintaining an arm’s-length creative network while operating a licensed financial services business.
