Nithin Kamath recalls falling for a pyramid scheme, warns retail investors against 'easy money' promises

Nithin Kamath, founder of brokerage platform Zerodha, shared a personal account of being associated with a multi-level marketing company that turned out to be a pyramid scheme early in his career, and used the experience to caution retail investors against easy-money promises. Citing industry estimates, he said around two new pyramid schemes are launched daily in India and over 5.5 crore Indians have lost savings to more than 5,300 such schemes, with losses estimated at around Rs 10 lakh crore as of 2015. He also linked the warning to the recent surge in retail stock market participation, urging investors to be wary of anyone promising unusually high returns.