The Raise of “Phygital “Brokerage in Emerging Market: Bridging the Digital Divide with Hybrid Advisory Models in India 2025-2026
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: India has undergone in its rapid financialization, the retail brokerage sector in India reached a critical inflection point. following the aggressive critical first 2020-24 to 2025-26, the period undergo a strategic movement towards phygital brokerage, the hybrid mode integrating high tech digital platform with high touch physical advisory. This paper examines how this model serves as a vital socio-economic bridge to include creating unprecedented market access, yet it failed to solve the critical issue of investor retention and financial literacy, while mobile only platform onboarded over 10 crore Demat account. A significant majority of these new retail investors. particularly from tire 3-6 cities engaged in high-risk speculative trading (F&O) without platform guidelines While analysing the leading brokers like Zerodha , Groww and traditional brokers like Motilal Oswal. This research Explore the transition from high frequency transaction-based revenue to long term advisory led wealth management. The study highlights how recent regulatory shift in derivatives (F&O) segment have acted as a catalyst forcing brokers to seek sustainable growth through diversified portfolio and assisted digital interfaces. data shows that India’s internet base has expanded to over 100 crore users, the trust deficit in decision making and financial literacy remains a significant barrier. Even with a billion people online with India many of them are still don’t trust app with their life savings. The phygital model fixes this by putting a friendly ,local face like a village shopkeeper or entrepreneur on top of complex digital tech.it turn out this mix isn’t just a temporary fix , it is the way to do the business combining AI with a real human Advisor .it solve the gap between bridge the gap between “trust and skill” so we can gave access to everyone with the wealth building process no one will left behind just because e they aren’t tech savvy
Authors: Greeshma v, Sreevidya u
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7166738174