Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath said The Foundery aims to build Indian consumer brands for U.S. buyers, linking the goal to his call for India to sell more goods overseas, NDTV reported.
At the NDTV World Summit 2026, Kamath spoke with NDTV CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal about the program’s focus. NDTV described The Foundery as an experimental residential business launchpad Kamath unveiled last year, with a structured 90-day startup program. Asked whether founders backed by the program were mainly pursuing India’s domestic market, Kamath said its aim was different.
He identified the United States as the market The Foundery is targeting and described it as the world’s largest consumer market. Shampoo and toothpaste were among the products he cited as possibilities. Kamath said the brands should be able to sell in the United States.
Kamath tied the export ambition to India’s economy. He said selling more of the country’s output abroad could bring more dollars into India and help strengthen its economy. He argued that exports should include consumer goods as well as software, while saying he did not want to focus too heavily on the currency itself.
Kamath said a conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella helped reinforce the idea. He recalled Nadella telling him that he could spend a full day in Silicon Valley without using an Indian product. In Kamath’s recollection, Nadella said, “I don’t touch an Indian product,” referring to software, consumer goods and hardware.
Separately, Kamath cited lower labor costs and policies favorable to labor-arbitrage businesses as reasons quick-commerce companies operate in India. NDTV’s account did not connect those factors directly to The Foundery’s plans for brands selling abroad.
