Zerodha Commodities
Zerodha Commodities Private Limited is a SEBI-registered commodities broker and a member of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), operating as part of the Zerodha group. The company enables clients to trade commodity futures contracts in categories including agricultural commodities, metals (gold, silver, copper, zinc, aluminium), and energy (crude oil, natural gas). It is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Commodity brokerage in India is regulated differently from equity and derivatives brokerage. Until 2015, commodity futures were regulated by the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952. Following the merger of FMC with SEBI in September 2015, all commodity derivatives came under SEBI’s regulatory purview. Zerodha Commodities holds the SEBI registration required for commodity derivatives brokerage.
Regulatory background
The consolidation of commodity derivatives regulation under SEBI in 2015 was a significant structural change for the Indian derivatives market. Prior to the merger, commodity brokers were regulated by the FMC and were separate from equity brokers regulated by SEBI. A client wishing to trade both equity futures (on NSE or BSE) and commodity futures (on MCX or NCDEX) would need accounts with two different regulatory ecosystems.
Post-merger, SEBI allowed brokers to hold both equity and commodity memberships, though many larger brokers maintained separate subsidiary entities for each segment to ring-fence liability and maintain clean regulatory books. Zerodha adopted the separate subsidiary model, with Zerodha Broking Limited holding equity and currency memberships and Zerodha Commodities holding commodity memberships.
Exchanges and products
Zerodha Commodities is a member of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), the dominant commodity exchange in India by trading volume. MCX offers futures contracts in the following broad categories:
Metals: Gold, silver, copper, aluminium, zinc, lead, nickel. Gold and silver futures on MCX are among the most actively traded commodity contracts in India, particularly by retail participants seeking commodity exposure without physical delivery.
Energy: Crude oil and natural gas futures, priced in line with international benchmarks (NYMEX WTI for crude oil and Henry Hub for natural gas), with rupee settlement.
Agricultural commodities: Cotton, cardamom, and other agri-commodities, though MCX’s agri-commodity segment is smaller relative to its metals and energy segments.
Zerodha Commodities does not hold membership of the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), which is the primary exchange for agri-commodity futures in India (wheat, soybean, chana, guar). Clients requiring NCDEX access would need to use a different broker.
Client integration with Zerodha Broking
Commodity trading through Zerodha Commodities is accessed through the same Kite trading platform used for equity and currency derivatives. From the client’s perspective, the interface is unified. Underlying this, separate accounts exist at Zerodha Broking (for equity) and Zerodha Commodities (for commodities), with funds transferred between the two as needed.
The flat-fee pricing model applies to commodity trades as well: twenty rupees per executed commodity futures order, or 0.03 per cent of trade value, whichever is lower.
Regulatory compliance
Zerodha Commodities files periodic returns with SEBI on commodity brokerage activities and is subject to MCX exchange-level compliance requirements including margining, position limits, and client identification norms. Since SEBI’s takeover of commodity regulation, the compliance framework has been progressively harmonised with the equity derivatives framework, simplifying multi-segment compliance for brokers.
See also
References
- Securities and Exchange Board of India. “Registration of Zerodha Commodities Private Limited.” SEBI commodity broker register.
- Multi Commodity Exchange of India. “Member directory.” MCX website. Accessed May 2026.
- Securities and Exchange Board of India. “Merger of Forward Markets Commission with SEBI.” SEBI press release, September 2015.
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Company master data, Zerodha Commodities Private Limited. MCA21 portal.
- SEBI. “SEBI (Commodity Derivatives) Regulations.” As amended through 2024.