Zerodha founder says not hiring IIT, IIM graduates

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Zerodha founder says not hiring IIT, IIM graduates

Many companies look forward to recruiting top talent from the country s leading education institutes, like the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management, but many others prefer to hire graduates with real passion more than just the degree. One such company is Zerodha, which does not prefer hiring IIT or IIM graduates.

Nithin Kamath, Zerodha's founder, said in a recent podcast that they do not hire people who have passed out of college, including the IITs and IIMs, because he feels it is very hard to fit such people in the organisation. He said that we had never hired a single person from IIT and IIM until now, because we found it very hard to fit such people within the organisation.

He said that the graduates from these organizations are more focused on developing their careers rather than thinking about the growth of the company. The thing that is about IITs and IIMs is that when you are in that kind of environment, you are wired to think about how quickly you can grow in life. This culturally doesn't fit well at Zerodha because we can't tell people how quickly they can grow, Kamath said.

He said that passion for a candidate is more important than just education. At least for the core team, the people who do important things at Zerodha, we see if they are passionate about the cause. Kamath noted that education doesn't matter.

Talking about the startup culture in India, Kamath said that people in such places like IIT and IIM want to jump from point A to point B rather quickly, but don't want to grow.

He categorically added that he doesn't oppose the idea of hiring IITians and IIM graduates if they Zerodha's criteria If you're okay getting up every day, doing something different, and looking to keep getting better as a business if you re okay with taking that chance, we can hire you, he added.

In 2009 Zerodha was founded by Nikhil and Nithin Kamath. Its net profit doubled to Rs 2,094 crore in FY 22. This was 82 per cent up compared to Rs 1,112 crore in FY 21. The company saw its operating revenue surge by 82 per cent to Rs 4,963 crore in FY 22 compared to the year-ago figures, according to the regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The company's operating expenses increased by 71 per cent in FY 22 to Rs 2,164 crore, despite the rise in revenues and profit. The company's employee benefit expenses increased by 45 per cent, according to the Bengaluru-based brokerage company. The EBEs were Rs 459 crore in FY 22. In the last fiscal year, the tech company's information technology expenses increased by 78.2 per cent to Rs 303 crore.