Finvasia vs Zerodha 2023 (Offerings, Charges, Customer Support)

I am an 8-year-old Zerodha customer and am fully satisfied with the experience. But recently when I came to know about Finvasia and I was totally astonished. 

The reason was Finvasia don’t charge you anything whether it’s account opening charges, brokerage fee or AMC (Account maintenance charges). Nothing.

I thought of exploring more about Finvasia and tried to compare it with my all-time favorite Zerodha. 

Finvasia is an old Mohali (Punjab) based company that is highly active in foreign investment in Indian markets and wealth management services. Finvasia has a more than 25000 customer base at present.

While Zerodha was started in 2010 and was the first broker to offer discount brokerage services. Zerodha has an active client base of above 1 crore.

Let’s compare Finvasia vs Zerodha in detail.

Finvasia vs Zerodha Range of Offerings

Finvasia (now Shoonya) allows you to trade in major assets like stocks, mutual funds, currencies and commodities. 

Finvasia also offers wealth management services to HNIs (High Networth Individuals) and they are also active in FPI (Foreign Portfolio Investment) to allow foreigners to invest in Indian markets. 

While Zerodha not only offers you to invest in stocks, mutual funds, currencies, and commodities but also –

  • Bonds, 
  • NCDs, 
  • Corporate fixed deposits, 
  • Sovereign Gold Bonds.
ServicesZerodhaFinvasia
EquityYesYes
CurrencyYesYes
CommodityYesYes
Mutual FundsYesYes
Bonds/ETFsYesYes
DebenturesYesNo
Corporate FDsYesNo
SGBsYesNo
Wealth Management ServicesNoYes
Foreign Portfolio InvestmentNoYes

Winner 

  • Regular investment/trading – Zerodha
  • Wealth management/FPI – Finvasia

Finvasia vs Zerodha Charges Comparison

#1. Brokerage Charges

SegmentZerodhaFinvasia
Equity DeliveryZeroZero
Equity Intraday0.03% to Rs. 20 per order (whichever is lower)Zero
Equity Future0.03% to Rs. 20 per order (whichever is lower)Zero
Equity OptionsRs. 20 per orderZero
Currency Futures0.03% to Rs. 20 per order (whichever is lower)Zero
Currency OptionsRs. 20 per orderZero
Commodity trading0.03% to Rs. 20 per order (whichever is lower)Zero

#2. Account Opening Charges

Trading TypeFinvasiaZerodha
Equity+DerivativesZeroRs. 200
CommoditiesZeroRs. 100

#3. Account Maintenance Charges

FinvasiaZero
ZerodhaRs. 300 per annum

#4. Other Charges

As you can see Finvasia is almost a zero-cost Demat account where they don’t charge anything. 

But one thing that I noticed in my research is that they demand Rs. 100 for POA (Power of Attorney) to sell your shares from a Demat account. However, Finvasia has mentioned it as an optional choice. So always prefer eDIS for selling the shares rather than POA.

POA is free of cost in Zerodha.

Winner – Finvasia

Finvasia vs Zerodha User Experience

#1. Shoonya by Finvasia

Finvasia which has revamped itself as Shoonya, allows you to invest in stocks, mutual funds and bonds. 

I found their Shoonya platform dashboard quite similar to Zerodha’s Kite, which we’ll discuss in a later section.

Shoonya Dashboard

Shoonya has Six sections to provide different services –

  • Dashboard – provides an overview of your investments in stocks and mutual funds.
  • Orders – check out your open and executed orders here.
  • Positions – Access your open positions here.
  • Holdings – Open the details of your holdings here.
  • Market – access mutual funds here.

One thing I liked here is the “Margin” section in the main menu to check out margin availability directly from the dashboard.

Finvasia’s Shoonya app also has a very intuitive dashboard that is easy to use.

Shoonya app dashboard

The Finvasia team has improved its trading platform but still has minor glitches like deposit delays or platform lag issues. Finvasia’s desktop trading software has chart-loading issues that need to be addressed.

#2. Zerodha

Unlike Finvasia, Zerodha provides separate platforms for different investors.

This means Zerodha has the proprietary Kite platform for stock investing and trading. Whereas Zerodha’s “Coin” portal is for investing in mutual funds and bonds.

I. Kite

Since I rarely invest in mutual funds or bonds, I like Zerodha’s approach of having different platforms for different investment needs making Kite’s dashboard very minimalistic and easy to use.

Zerodha Kite dashboard

The Zerodha Kite app comes with a simplistic interface having 5 sections in total as discussed below.

  • Watchlists – you can search and shortlist your favourite stocks and track their performance.
  • Orders – Access your open and executed orders here.
  • Portfolio/Positions – To check out your holdings and open positions.
  • Tools – Advanced trading methods like Baskets, and SIPs, are available in this section.
  • Profile – Your account settings, funds, and back office portal “Console” are available here.
Zerodha Kite app interface

Check out our article on the best desktop trading software in India to know about other top trading software available in the market.

II. Coin

Zerodha’s Coin platform allows you to invest in more than 3000 mutual funds. You can invest in direct mutual fund schemes without paying any commission to Zerodha that’s a plus point.

Zerodha Coin

You can also invest in government securities like treasury bills, corporate bonds, Sovereign Gold and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) with the Coin app. 

Similar to Kite, Coin is also well-arranged and very intuitive to use even for a newcomer.

III. Console 

Console dashboard account

Zerodha also has a separate back-office portal “Console” that allows you to access stuff like contract notes, trade books, and profit & loss statements. You can also open heat maps to analyse your past performances to improve your trading strategies.

You can also access the “Referal & Rewards” section to utilize your rewards to access Zerodha’s different platforms at discounted prices.

Winner – Zerodha

Note – If you usually invest in both stocks and mutual funds, then you might prefer to have a single dashboard to track all the investments as provided by Finvasia Shoonya.

You can also explore other discount brokers from this list that offers cheap brokerage on stock trading. 

Finvasia vs Zerodha Add-ons & Education Platforms

#1. Finvasia vs Zerodha Add-ons

Finvasia has partnered with Tradetron to provide the Algo Trading platform free of cost. You can create, test and deploy your own trading strategies even if you don’t know the coding. 

You can use their other partnership platforms like NEST, a robust terminal-based trading platform for a seamless intraday trading experience.

On the other hand, Zerodha has an in-house platform Zerodha connect to create your own API but you have to pay a hefty amount which is Rs. 2000 per month. 

Zerodha has other add-on platforms to enhance your trading and investing flavors. Major such add-on platforms are – 

  • Sensibull – for an algorithm-based options trading
  • GoldenPifor corporate bonds, NCDs, and corporate FDs
  • Smallcase – for a theme-based stock investment

Winner 

  • Algotrading – Finvasia
  • Overall – Zerodha

#2. Finvasia vs Zerodha Education Platforms

Zerodha clearly wins this comparison with its in-house education platform – Varsity.

You can learn from short lessons having byte-sized information in Varsity along with small quizzes at the end of each lesson. You can also enjoy expert opinions on important topics like F&O trading.

You can install the Varsity app on your smartphone or you can subscribe to their Zerodha Varsity channel on YouTube.

Finvasia’s Youtube channel is more focused on how to use different Shoonya platforms rather than educating beginners about stock investing.

Winner – Zerodha

You can also read our detailed Zerodha Review article for a further understanding of the merits and demerits of Zerodha.

Finvasia vs Zerodha Customer Support

Finvasia has a relatively small team as compared to Zerodha which sets Zerodha apart from this new competitor.

However, they have seriously improved their customer support and now have a dedicated escalation matrix. 

The best part is that they have kept the CEO also in the escalation matrix. You can contact their CEO if your issue has not been resolved at the other levels.

Contact PersonContact No.EmailTimings
Customer CareAdity Chhiba0172-6670000/459[email protected]9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Head of Customer CareKapil Abrol0172-6670000/418[email protected]9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Compliance OfficerRamanjeet Kaur0172-6670000/1509[email protected]10:00 am to 6:00 pm
CEOSarvjeet Singh0172-6670000[email protected]11:00 am to 5:50 pm

In my personal experience, I found Zerodha’s customer support very quick and efficient as compared to other established discount brokers like Upstox and 5paisa. Zerodha has a 48-hour ticket window to resolve the client’s issue.

Account OpeningTrading SupportCall & Trade
080 4719 2020
080 7117 5337
080 4718 1888
080 4718 1999
080 4718 1888 

You can also create a ticket from their support portal by selecting an appropriate topic.

Winner – Zerodha

Final Verdict

No doubt Zerodha is an overall winner over Finvasia but I really liked Finvasia’s offer of providing all the trading segments at ZERO brokerage. 

Zerodha introduced its discount brokerage, disrupted the market and set a trend for discount brokers in India. It seems like Shoonya (Finvasia) could be the next Zerodha and set a new trend of Shoonya (ZERO) brokerage in India.

FAQs

How Finvasia earns money without charging any brokerage, account opening or maintenance fee?

I have seen similar questions on various social media platforms and would like to answer the same here.

Finvasia offers multiple services like HNI wealth management and FPI investment services to foreign investors that sustain them without charging any brokerage fees on your retail demat+trading account.

About Rajan Dhawan

Rajan has covered personal finance and investing for over 5 years. Previously, he was in the IT field for 8 years after completing his MCA but his deep interest in personal finance led him to become an investing expert. He is passionate about investing, stocks, startups, and cryptos.

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