‘I thought that I’ll retire’: Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath on relearning life after a stroke

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath says he came close to retiring after suffering a stroke last year. “I thought it had all come to an end,” he revealed in a podcast, reflecting on the physical and mental battle that followed as he relearned everything from writing and speaking to simply walking.

The stroke, which struck Kamath in January 2024, left him temporarily stripped of core skills. “All my skill sets, I’ve almost had to relearn, writing, speaking, even playing the guitar,” he said. In those early weeks, Kamath said retirement felt like the only option. “In the first month, I genuinely thought I’ll retire.”

But that phase didn’t last long. Kamath credits his recovery to two key forces:  internal drive and a deeply supportive environment. “I started getting up and walking on the treadmill by the second week,” he said. “It felt like a football match where you’re one goal down and need to fight harder to level the score.”

The battle wasn’t just physical. Kamath pointed out how crucial his surroundings were in shaping his mental recovery. “It’s very hard to stay positive if you’re around negative people,” he said. “I had people like Nikhil, Seema, and my team at work, all of them radiated positivity. I don’t know if I could’ve come back without them.”

The experience also forced a hard reset on how he approached health. “I was always active,  playing football, basketball, badminton but my diet was way off,” he admitted. “I used to binge, I drank. It’s only in the last three or four years that I became conscious of what I consume.”

Kamath began returning to work just two months after the stroke, gradually rebuilding routines and rediscovering purpose. “I was trying to give direction to my life again. That’s what got me going.”