MUMBAI: As leading retail stock broking firms have started offering products with steep discounts to catch up with discount broking firms, market leader Zerodha is unperturbed.But it is closely watching one potential player: Paytm Money.“It isn’t really about the pricing. It is about the product. That’s where we currently enjoy a long distance from competition,” Nitin Kamath, CEO of Zerodha, told ETMarkets.com. “Essentially, it will end up being a fight for that. Whoever has a better product, wins,” he said.In a bid to grab a larger share of rapidly-growing discount-broking market for securities, retail-focused stock broking firms have introduced similar products in recent times to raise their game.Last month, Axis Direct and Angel Broking came up with discount broking offerings, alongside their existing products in an attempt to lure customers away from established discount brokers. They are also offering research services bundled with these products.Paytm Money, the investment and wealth management arm of mobile payment platform Paytm, last week received approval from Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to start stock broking services.“For the newer guys like Paytm, it will be easier to compete because they do not really have a legacy to worry about in terms of technology and all that,” Kamath said. “So, if I have to worry, I have to be worried about the newer guys, and not really the existing ones.”“If anyone out there can compete with us in terms of product, it will be them (Paytm). Will they be able to deliver on not? Only time will tell,” he said.Around 65-70 per cent of Zerodha’s business come from first timers, and not really from existing investors. And Kamath says that’s how his company is essentially broadening market participation in India.“On one side, we will be forced to constantly watch our back, because you never know where they will catch up. On the other side, if someone can grow the market participation in India quickly, it is probably Paytm. So, it is good that they are jumping in,” he said.Axis Direct’s plan ‘India, Trade@20’, was launched for all Axis Direct customers, who maintain an average quarterly balance of Rs 75,000 with Axis Bank . These customers can now start trading in equity and equity derivatives at a nominal fee of Rs 20 per executed order, the retail-focused broking firm said in a release.Non-Axis Bank customers can also open trading and demat accounts and avail the benefits of ‘India, Trade@20’ by paying a nominal fee of Rs 250 per month.Angel Broking floated an online plan, named Angel iTrade plan, which charges a flat order-based brokerage fee. The plan includes price points of Rs 15 and Rs 30 per order for order sizes up to Rs 50,000 and more than Rs 50,000, respectively, in equity, futures and options, commodity and currency segments. Research, advice, customer support and other value-added services come bundled with this offer.Zerodha does not charge any brokerage for delivery-based equity transactions. It charges 0.01 per cent, or Rs 20, whichever is lower, per executed order in intraday equity and equity futures trade. For equity options transactions, it charges a flat fee of Rs 20 per executed order.Discount broking firms emerged as investors’ favourites in 2018 helping Zerodha to outpace big brokerages in terms of client numbers, data available with the National Stock Exchange showed.Zerodha had 8.47 lakh active clients as of December 2018 end compared with ICICI Securities’ 8.45 lakh customers, HDFC Securities’ 6.74 lakh and Sharekhan’s 5.49 lakh. Among others, Axis Securities had 4.17 lakh clients and Angel Broking 4.16 lakh.Zerodha was incorporated in 2010. Its profits have risen 100 times from Rs 2.3 crore in financial year 2011-12 to Rs 224 crore in 2017-18.