On November 4, Nithin Kamath, a co-founder of Zerodha, replied to a social media post made by Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, an investor and IVF expert based in Mumbai, who claimed that the broking platform was preventing him from withdrawing money even though he had a substantial amount in his trading account. The occurrence provoked a discussion among traders about online brokers’ withdrawal procedures and traders’ access to their own wealth.
Despite having a withdrawable sum of around Rs 42.9 crore in his Zerodha account, Dr. Malpani had stated on X that he was unable to withdraw more than Rs 5 crore in a single day. He called it a “scam” and said the broker was utilizing the client’s money “for free.”
Market participants took notice of the message right once, and several of them asked whether brokers could restrict withdrawals while client funds were already settled and displayed as available.
Hi Dr, your payout requests were processed yesterday. We need to ensure, for the sake of our systems' sanity (like all other financial services firms), that we have some checks in place when clients withdraw funds
— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) November 4, 2025
As you can imagine, numerous potential issues can arise during… https://t.co/dfrj56Hyxi pic.twitter.com/8hhCW0DRFO
In response to the accusation, Kamath stated that the payout request had already been handled and made it clear that an internal review—rather than a fund block—is initiated when the amount reaches Rs 5 crore. In accordance with procedures used by banking institutions, he stated that significant withdrawals necessitate further checks.
“Hey, Dr. Yesterday, your payout requests were handled. Like any other financial services companies, we must make sure that we have some safeguards in place when clients withdraw money for the sake of the integrity of our systems,” Kamath wrote on X.
As you can guess, there are a lot of possible problems that might occur throughout the withdrawal procedure, and we are unable to get our money back once it has been sent. Therefore, we ask consumers to create tickets to withdraw at a threshold of Rs 5 crore,” he continued.
According to the explanation, the limit serves as a trigger for physical involvement to confirm high-value transactions rather than a cap on rewards. Such checks are regularly carried out by brokers to protect against fraud, incorrect transfers, and compliance issues, especially when several payout requests are made or when transactions involve substantial amounts of money.
However, given the continued rise in civilian involvement in the equity and derivatives markets, the episode has rekindled a long-standing worry among high-net-worth investors and active traders: should brokers more openly reveal withdrawal limits and schedules?
Strict customer fund segregation and broker operational oversight are mandated by SEBI, India’s market regulator. Large-value payouts frequently require further verification, a procedure that is typical throughout the business, even though same-day and quick withdrawals are accessible in certain situations. Investors contend, however, that the ease of accessing funds should be directly correlated with the visibility of a “withdrawable balance.”
