• Strategic Acquisition: InCred Money is all set to buy Stocko in its foray into retail brokerage with a deal worth around Rs 300 crore.
• Stocko's Niche: Stocko was established in 2013 and is focused on discount brokerage, providing trades across asset classes with competitive pricing strategies.
• Growth Potential: The move is to increase Stocko's services, such as better trading technology and margin funding, with InCred's support.

In a bid to make itself a full-stack financial services provider, InCred Money, the wealthtech business of the InCred Group, has said it will buy discount brokerage platform Stocko. The deal, pending regulatory clearance, will represent InCred's formal foray into the retail brokerage segment.

If approved, Stocko, which is currently run by South Asian Stocks Limited, will be renamed InCred Stocko and be merged under the umbrella company InCred Money. Although the companies have not made it public, reports by ET indicate that the transaction is about Rs 300 crore in value.

Bhupinder Singh, founder and CEO of InCred Group, stated, “InCred Stocko gives us a proven platform with serious volume, and we’ll bring our tech, capital, and customer-first mindset to unlock its full potential.”

Established in 2013 as SAS Online, Stocko has carved a niche for itself in the cut-throat discount brokerage space. The New Delhi-headquartered company provides equities, derivatives, commodity, and currency trading on a flat-fee model of Rs 12.99 per order. For heavy hitters, it has a subscription option that brings costs down to a minimum of Rs 2.99 per order, reporting a daily notional turnover of about Rs 1 lakh crore.

The Stocko management, under CEO Shrey Jain, is likely to remain in place post-acquisition. InCred's backing would hasten the company's roadmap for new initiatives such as higher margin funding and better trading technology, Jain said.

This deal is against the backdrop of consolidation in India's fintech and wealth management space, where firms are looking to offer end-to-end solutions covering loans, deposits, mutual funds, insurance, and now broking. For InCred, this acquisition of Stocko addresses a gap in its product basket, which already comprises fixed deposits, alternate investments, and loan products for both retail and institutional customers.

Established in 2016, the InCred Group functions on three broad verticals: InCred Finance (a non-banking financial institution), InCred Capital (institutional and high-net-worth individual-focused investment services), and InCred Money (digital-first investment platform). The group had a revenue of Rs 1,267 crore during fiscal 2024, marking a 48% increase from the previous year on year-on-year basis, as well as a profit after tax of Rs 316 crore.