Just read referal program is back but old referals will not be considered .
@nithin
How you can justify this and why should someone give zerodha referal when we know you can stop it at any time on name of regulatoins all brokers considered old referals
I know you will say lot of people missused social media to infuence people and get referal account .
There can be ways to revalidate genuine referal accounts of past i think zerodha should reconsider there policy.
They just want new customer without giving brokerage to people who have already referred in the past. This is targeted to the newer accounts opened. They will now refer more clients but then after some time Zerodha will stop sharing brokerage. This is just a cheap strategy.
We have stopped earlier because regulators asked us to. Now we got clarification from them hence started again, yes, we can stop again if regulators ask us to in future.
Even in last two years when we are not paying anything as referral commission a considerable bunch of our accounts are from referrals, users refereed because they like the product so they informed their friends and family to open accounts with us. We always thank our users for that.
Now we are adding 10% because we got approval for that, this 10% should not be seen as only revenue stream for who are referring but as a additional bonus for referring, I mean as most refer friends and family in good faith if they believe the product is worth trying. If one is referring more clients they can become AP( partner ) with us where we pay 40% and for life.
But can you tell us the reason why old clients are not covered in brokerage sharing now when you have got the clarification?
just a week ago referrred one friend. Missed it !
All that is good even i refered many of my friends but please explain why old referals are null amd void you skipped that .
Its not about 10% i know zerodha is very big company i want to know your leadership rational behind this policy .
Why don’t you give payout to your then existing customers. What you guys are doing is very cheap.
I have never spoken this way about Zerodha in public ever. But this is cheap.
I had to look up what an AP was, Authorized Person (AP) = Sub-broker 
Is this designation more regulator friendly, i.e., were not impacted prior 
Should referrals go via this route to avoid any future regulatory uncertainties? Our regulators seem to change their mind about something a few times a week. 
This stands as a dark mark in the company’s history, and such stains do not easily disappear unless they are acknowledged and addressed.
Were Zerodha’s employees allowed to participate in this referral program?
If they were, that might explain a lot, including why this program was shut down while other brokers kept theirs running, even after receiving the so-called letters from regulators.
Usually, companies don’t allow employees to participate in referral programs they manage themselves, because it creates an obvious conflict of interest. If the same people responsible for tracking referrals also had their own accounts, they could have had both the opportunity and incentive to redirect leads to themselves, especially during platform or ERP migrations when oversight tends to be weaker.
Once such structural concerns exist, even the perception of irregularities can quickly escalate. As complaints started growing and the issue began appearing on social media, it’s possible that the response shifted from addressing the underlying system gaps to a faster containment approach, which in practice often means shutting the program down altogether with the easiest excuse.
While it is often assumed that top management is directly responsible for such decisions, in many cases they may not have a clear view of what actually triggered the issue at the operational level. Decisions at that stage are frequently shaped by the information and narratives that reach them, rather than a full picture of what may have originally gone wrong.
A fair settlement for affected referral associates could go a long way toward restoring trust. That could be right thing to do.
Disclaimer: This is purely speculative, based on public accounts and personal observations. I don’t have any insider knowledge, and these events haven’t been independently verified.
Applicable from accounts referred from June 1st 2026.
Not allowed.
@nithin Sir, your team is skipping the question.
As a loyal and long-term customer of Zerodha, I think we deserve the transparency that you guys have always shown in this matter too.
Hope you will reply like you always do.
@RupeeRiser can you share links to any of these public accounts / social media about Zerodha employees misusing Zerodha’s earlier referral program?
Curious because did not find any using a online search.
Instead of introducing a referral program, Kite should focus on adding a Split View option in the mobile application. This feature would be much more beneficial for active traders.
If Split View is introduced, traders will be able to monitor charts and positions simultaneously, improving their trading experience. I believe many traders would naturally prefer to use Kite for trading if this feature becomes available.
Since my comment got so much attention, I want to clarify what I actually meant.
I’m not making accusations or stating facts. I’m simply reasoning through a possibility. If a certain condition is true, then this could be a valid explanation. If that condition is not true, then the reasoning doesn’t hold.
That’s all.
Some people are reading this as an allegation and asking for proof.
But I’m not saying something definitely happened. I’m exploring whether a possible explanation makes sense. Considering a possibility ( if the initial condition is True) is not the same as claiming it is a fact.
If this were really a bad strategy,
I would be talking about it behind X’s back in private conversations with other people instead of bringing it directly to X. But that’s not what I’m doing. I’m discussing it openly here, where X can respond, clarify, disagree, or even remove my comments. That is the opposite of bad-mouthing someone behind their back.
X has already responded.
The most charitable interpretation is simply that people are frustrated because they did not receive what they believed they were promised, even though they acted in good faith themselves.
It’s just a possible explanation for why concerns are being raised.
To be clear, I’m not claiming anyone did anything wrong. I’m testing a line of reasoning and doing so openly, with the persons able to respond directly, which they did.
Because that’s how most of it was written as.
The language of that post was definitely ambiguous.
Glad to know that i wasn’t the only one who got tripped while reading that. 
Thank you for promptly clarifying.
OK.
FWIW, irrespective of whether it’s true or not,
to me, it made no sense as…
a. The apparent trigger was the regulation.
(checking the timeline of the circular and the referral pause announcement)
b. Zerodha controlled the payouts.
They could stop/avoid paying out folks who they believe are violating the terms of the program without having to stop the referral program en-masse for everyone.
Agreed.
Personally i attribute it to the inability of folks to communicate properly.
I feel that all speculation,
like the one in this thread,
and dozens of similar ones running in people’s heads
could have been easily avoided
if the announcement communication was clear enough.
“Pathetic” doesn’t even begin to describe
how poor i think the communication from Zerodha is
on some of these topics.
Avoiding smooth talk, avoiding manipulative dark-patterns, and avoiding white-lies is one thing.
But, some of the posts/responses feel like the other extreme.
It is almost as if someone penned them down in a hurry
while walking back to their cubicle from the cafeteria after lunch,
or while idling on their bike/car at a red-light on their way home at the end of the day.
Feels like their participating on this forum is almost a side-hustle
that they do out of their own interest/passion (thank you),
and not something the company provides them with sufficient time and guidance, to perform professionally.
I suppose atleast some of the folks reading this right now, must be thinking -
"Abhi do rupiye ki to chai hai!
Ismein tumko makkhi nahin toh kya haathi milegaa!"
Happy Thursday everyone!
Still the original question remains unanswered and ignored. Maybe @nithin would like to shed some light on the matter.
Thanks for illustrating the point of piss-poor comms.
Here are the answers to the original question(s) from earlier in the topic-thread -
Not all the questions have been answered my friend.
