Discount broking industry is getting overcrowded: Prakarsh Gagdani, 5paisa

Almost 75-80 per cent of our customers are under 35 years in age, largely first-time investors and come from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, he said.

Retail investors have been a dominant force in the market, as evidenced by the growing number of demat accounts over the past few months. PRAKARSH GAGDANI, chief executive officer, 5paisa.com – one of the first and the largest discount broking firms in the country – tells Puneet Wadhwa in an interview that this is the first time that the retail participation has been pushed to 65-70 per cent of the exchange turnover, helped by a sustained 15-month rally in stocks and flurry of good quality IPOs. Edited excerpts:

Traditional broking firms have faced stiff competition from their discount broking peers.