Dhan
Dhan is an Indian retail stockbroking and investment platform operated by Raise Financial Services Private Limited, incorporated in 2021 and headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. The broker was co-founded by Pravin Jadhav, Vinay Patankar, and Ram Kalyan Medury. Pravin Jadhav is a fintech executive who previously served as chief executive officer of Paytm Money from 2019 to 2021, during Paytm Money’s transition from a mutual fund distribution platform to a full stockbroking service. After departing from Paytm Money, Jadhav co-founded Raise Financial Services with the express intent of building a stockbroking platform designed for active equity and derivatives traders, rather than for the first-time investor segment primarily served by Groww or the generic retail segment served by bank-backed full-service brokers.
Dhan launched commercially in early 2022 and positioned itself through two defining characteristics: first, a trading interface with higher information density and more advanced derivatives tooling than most competing consumer apps; and second, a publicly documented developer API (DhanHQ) supporting algorithmic trading, placing it in a group of API-enabled discount brokers alongside Zerodha (Kite Connect), Upstox (Upstox API), and Fyers (Fyers API). Dhan is not listed on any stock exchange. It received early-stage and growth funding from Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) and other investors.
Founding context and rationale
The founding of Dhan in 2021 occurred at a juncture in the Indian retail broking market when active traders, particularly those engaged in equity futures and options (F&O), were underserved by the dominant consumer-facing platforms that had grown rapidly during the COVID-19-era retail investing surge. Platforms such as Groww, which captured millions of first-time mutual fund and equity investors, were designed for simplicity and low friction in account opening and first investments. Active traders using these platforms for multi-leg option strategies, high-frequency order management, or algorithmic trading found the user experience limited compared with specialised trading terminals.
Pravin Jadhav’s prior experience at Paytm Money gave him direct exposure to both the opportunity (millions of potential investors reachable via digital distribution) and the gap (platforms optimised for first-time investors were not meeting the needs of the growing F&O trader segment). The F&O segment in India saw extraordinary growth in the early 2020s, with NSE reporting that individual traders accounted for the majority of equity F&O turnover by the number of contracts. SEBI’s research papers in 2023 and 2024 documented that most individual F&O traders incurred losses, but the volume of participation continued to grow, indicating strong demand for capable F&O execution platforms.
Dhan was positioned as the broker for this active-trader cohort: investors who already understood markets and wanted a platform that provided option Greeks, payoff diagrams, strategy builders, and fast order execution in a mobile and web interface rather than a simplified consumer onboarding flow.
Founding and history
Raise Financial Services Private Limited was incorporated in 2021. The company applied for and received SEBI stockbroking registration, initially recorded under an interim registered name before regularisation as Raise Financial Services. The Dhan brand was launched alongside the platform in early 2022.
Seed and early-stage funding was provided by Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Financial Group, the South Korean financial services conglomerate. Additional venture investors participated in subsequent rounds. The company disclosed funding milestones but did not publicly announce precise valuations at each round.
By late 2022, Dhan had crossed 500,000 registered users. The platform’s active trader focus was reflected in high engagement metrics per client relative to industry averages: active F&O traders trade daily or multiple times per week, generating higher order volumes per account than passive investors. By 2024, Dhan’s registered user count was in the range of 1-1.5 million, and its NSE-active client count placed it in the top 15-20 brokers nationally. The platform continued to grow through word-of-mouth in the active trading community, supplemented by digital marketing.
Ownership and corporate structure
Raise Financial Services Private Limited is the operating entity for Dhan’s stockbroking business. Pravin Jadhav (chief executive officer), Vinay Patankar, and Ram Kalyan Medury are among the co-founders and directors. Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) is a disclosed investor. The company has not filed for a stock exchange listing as of early 2026 and has not disclosed full cap-table information in public filings beyond Ministry of Corporate Affairs statutory returns.
Products and services
Equity delivery and intraday trading
Dhan provides NSE and BSE equity trading in both delivery (NRML) and intraday (MIS) modes. Brokerage is nil for delivery and Rs 20 per executed order for intraday, consistent with the standard discount broker flat-fee model. Advanced order types including stop-loss, stop-loss market, cover orders, and after-market orders (AMO) are supported.
Equity futures and options
NSE and BSE equity F&O trading forms the primary focus of Dhan’s platform differentiation. The platform provides:
- A live option chain with real-time implied volatility (IV), option Greeks (delta, gamma, theta, vega), open interest (OI), and change in OI across all strikes and expiries.
- Multi-leg option strategy builder supporting combinations such as straddles, strangles, iron condors, bull spreads, and bear spreads, with integrated pay-off diagram generation.
- Pre-defined strategy templates that allow traders to select a named strategy and receive auto-populated strike prices and quantities based on market conditions.
- Basket order functionality for placing multi-leg strategies as a single order entry, reducing execution slippage for complex strategies.
These features, while available in third-party tools such as Sensibull (which works with multiple brokers including Zerodha) or through Zerodha’s own web console, are integrated natively within Dhan’s primary interface rather than requiring a separate application or platform switch.
Commodity derivatives
MCX commodity futures and options are accessible through Dhan’s commodity broking operations, covering gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, copper, and other exchange-traded commodities.
Currency derivatives
NSE and BSE currency derivative contracts, including USD/INR, EUR/INR, GBP/INR, and JPY/INR futures and options, are available.
Mutual funds
Direct-plan mutual fund investment is available through the Dhan platform, covering equity, debt, hybrid, and index fund categories from all SEBI-registered AMCs. SIP and lump-sum investment modes are supported.
IPO applications
ASBA and UPI-mandate-based IPO applications are integrated for both mainboard and SME platform listings on NSE and BSE.
Charge structure
| Segment | Brokerage |
|---|---|
| Equity delivery | Nil |
| Equity intraday | Rs 20 per executed order |
| Equity futures | Rs 20 per executed order |
| Equity options | Rs 20 per executed order |
| Currency derivatives | Rs 20 per executed order |
| Commodity F&O | Rs 20 per executed order |
Account and depository charges (approximate; verify current schedule at dhan.co):
- Demat account opening: Nil
- Demat annual maintenance charge (AMC): Rs 100-300 per annum depending on plan
- CDSL transaction charges: standard exchange rates pass-through
- Securities transaction tax (STT), exchange transaction charges, SEBI turnover fee, stamp duty, and Goods and Services Tax (GST) are levied at applicable regulatory rates and passed through at cost
SEBI’s September 2023 circular on “true-to-label” fee disclosure mandates that all applicable charges be displayed at the order confirmation screen before execution. Dhan implemented this requirement in its order flow.
Technology platforms
Dhan web platform
The Dhan web trading platform (accessible at web.dhan.co) is built around a high-density active-trader interface. The primary screen provides a watchlist, order placement panel, charts with technical indicators, and a simultaneous view of the option chain or position monitor. Real-time market depth (Level 2 data) is available for supported segments. The web platform supports multiple chart layouts and time frames, and integrates with TradingView-powered charts for technical analysis.
The platform’s design philosophy prioritises placing the maximum relevant trading information on a single screen without requiring navigation between multiple sections, a usability choice valued by active traders who monitor multiple positions simultaneously.
Dhan mobile app
The Dhan mobile application (Android and iOS) is designed to carry over the active-trader-focused approach to mobile screens. It includes the option chain with live Greeks, the strategy builder, position monitoring with live PnL, and direct order placement from the option chain rows, which allows traders to add strikes to a basket without navigating to a separate order form.
The app supports Face ID and fingerprint biometric authentication. It received multiple updates between 2022 and 2025, expanding feature parity with the web platform.
DhanHQ API
DhanHQ is Dhan’s publicly documented developer API platform, accessible at dhanhq.co. The API provides:
- Order API: place, modify, and cancel orders across all segments (equity, F&O, currency, commodity)
- Data API: real-time market quotes and historical OHLCV (open, high, low, close, volume) data via REST endpoints
- WebSocket streaming: real-time tick-level data subscription for market quotes, order status updates, and position updates
- Portfolio and funds API: access to holdings, positions, margin availability, and funds summary
Authentication uses OAuth 2.0-style access token generation with a daily session token refresh cycle. Client libraries in Python have been published on public repositories, and third-party contributors have added libraries in other languages.
DhanHQ’s developer documentation is maintained at dhanhq.co/docs and is updated with each API version. The API is available to all Dhan clients upon application through the developer portal, with no additional subscription fee for the basic API access tier.
The DhanHQ API places Dhan in the tier of Indian brokers with fully documented, functional, third-party developer APIs, alongside Zerodha (Kite Connect), Upstox (Upstox API v2), Angel One (SmartAPI), and Fyers (Fyers API). This capability is absent from most bank-backed full-service brokers and from Groww as of 2026.
Regulatory registrations
- SEBI stockbroker: INZ000247232 (NSE, BSE, and derivatives segments)
- MCX member: for commodity derivatives broking
- CDSL depository participant: for demat account and custody services
- AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor: for direct-plan fund distribution
Recent developments
2022: Commercial launch of the Dhan platform. Seed and early-stage funding received. Rapid client acquisition among active traders and early adopter community.
2023: DhanHQ API released publicly. Feature set expanded to include the multi-leg strategy builder and pay-off diagram. Registered user count approached and crossed 1 million. SEBI’s true-to-label fee disclosure circular implemented.
2024: Active client count on NSE reached top-15 position. Platform expanded commodity and currency segment coverage. SEBI’s circulars on F&O market structure changes (margin requirements, contract specifications) affected the broader F&O ecosystem; Dhan implemented required changes. Additional venture funding received.
2025: Continued growth in the active-trader segment. Dhan remained private. No IPO filing as of early 2026. DhanHQ API developer community expanded.
Comparison with Zerodha
Both Dhan and Zerodha are SEBI-registered discount brokers targeting active traders with flat-fee brokerage structures. The following distinctions apply as of 2026:
- API ecosystem maturity: Zerodha’s Kite Connect API has been public since 2015, has thousands of registered developers, and has a large ecosystem of third-party tools (Sensibull, Streak, Smallcase, and others) built on top of it. DhanHQ is newer and has a smaller but growing developer community.
- Native F&O tooling: Dhan’s option chain, strategy builder, and pay-off diagram are native within the Dhan platform. Zerodha’s equivalent feature set for option strategies is primarily accessed through Sensibull, a third-party application that requires a separate subscription (though a free tier exists).
- Scale and track record: Zerodha, founded in 2010, has a client base approximately 5-7 times larger than Dhan’s and a longer regulatory operating history. Financial stability, a key consideration for clients choosing a depository participant to hold their securities, is generally better assessed from a longer operating history.
- Educational content: Zerodha’s Varsity educational platform has tens of modules covering equity, derivatives, personal finance, and technical analysis; Dhan’s educational content is less developed.
- Mutual fund breadth: Zerodha’s Coin platform and Dhan’s mutual fund module are broadly comparable in coverage but both smaller in mutual fund AUM than Groww’s mutual fund distribution.
References
- SEBI SCORES broker registration, Raise Financial Services Private Limited (INZ000247232)
- NSE active client data, January 2026, National Stock Exchange of India monthly broker statistics
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Raise Financial Services Private Limited company filing
- DhanHQ API documentation, v2, dhanhq.co/docs
- SEBI circular on true-to-label fee disclosure, September 2023
- SEBI research paper on individual trader F&O participation and profitability, 2023
- SEBI F&O framework circular, July 2024 (lot size, margin, and expiry changes)
- MCX member directory, Raise Financial Services Private Limited
- AMFI distributor registration, Raise Financial Services
- Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) portfolio disclosures, 2022-23