Groww

Groww is an Indian retail financial-services platform that operates as both the country’s largest direct-plan mutual fund distributor by registered user base and the largest discount broker by National Stock Exchange (NSE) active client count. Incorporated as Groww Securities Private Limited for the stockbroking business and Groww Invest Tech Private Limited for the mutual fund distribution business, the company is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Billionbrains Garage Ventures Private Limited. Groww was founded in April 2016 by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal, four former Flipkart employees, and initially operated exclusively as a direct-plan mutual fund distribution platform before obtaining a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI ) stockbroking licence in 2020.

By January 2026, Groww’s NSE-active client count exceeded 12 million, having surpassed Zerodha in 2023 to take the top position among Indian discount brokers and maintained that lead through 2025. The company’s mutual fund distribution business, the original founding product, retains over 30 million registered users and distributes direct-plan units of all SEBI-registered AMC schemes. As of April 2026, Groww’s direct plan adoption share in incremental SIP registrations places it among the top three platforms by sourced flow, alongside Zerodha Coin and other major execution-only platforms.

Groww’s founding insight in 2016 was that direct-plan distribution, made mandatory by SEBI from January 2013, had been operationally captured by the AMCs’ own websites and a small number of aggregator portals, leaving a large addressable market of first-time investors without a low-friction onboarding path. The company’s mobile-first product design, Aadhaar-based eKYC onboarding, and minimum-investment thresholds as low as Rs 100 substantially lowered the barriers to mutual fund subscription for retail investors outside the major metros. Groww’s distribution model, like that of Kuvera , ET Money , and Zerodha Coin, is execution-only: the platform receives no distribution commission from AMCs and is regulated as a SEBI Execution-Only Platform (EOP) under the July 2023 framework. Groww’s revenue is derived from stockbroking, IPO applications, and ancillary financial-services products, with mutual fund distribution operating at near-zero unit economics positioned as a customer-acquisition channel.

Founding and corporate history

Pre-founding context

Groww’s four co-founders worked in product, engineering, and business roles at Flipkart, India’s then-dominant e-commerce platform, before departing in 2015 and 2016 to build a consumer financial-services company. Their stated founding insight was that mutual fund investing in India remained opaque, paperwork-heavy, and practically inaccessible to first-time investors outside the major metros. SEBI had mandated direct-plan availability from 1 January 2013, eliminating distributor commissions in direct plans and producing a 50 to 100 basis-point lower Total Expense Ratio (TER) for investors using the direct route. However, direct-plan distribution was operationally captured by the AMCs’ own websites and a small number of aggregator portals; retail investors outside the top metros had limited practical access. Groww’s founders identified the direct-plan distribution gap as the founding opportunity.

Mutual fund phase, 2016 to 2019

Groww launched its mutual fund application in late 2016, offering paperless direct-plan investment across equity, debt, and hybrid schemes. The platform’s onboarding flow used Aadhaar-OTP-based eKYC and online in-person verification (OIPV) via a live selfie, substantially reducing onboarding time from several days (typical for traditional brokers) to under 15 minutes. The company was part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 cohort, an unusual admission for an Indian retail financial-services startup. Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners) led the Series A round. By 2019, Groww had accumulated several million registered users and a mutual fund asset base that made it one of the largest new-entrant direct-plan distributors by transaction volume.

Entry into stockbroking, 2020 to 2022

Groww received SEBI stockbroking registration in 2020 (SEBI registration INZ000208032) and launched equity trading via its mobile application. The expansion transformed the platform’s addressable market from mutual fund investors to the broader retail equity segment. Subsequent product launches included futures and options (F&O), US equity investments via a partnership with DriveWealth LLC, digital gold, and IPO applications. Tiger Global participated in the Series D round in 2021. The Series E and Series F rounds, both in 2021, brought the company’s valuation to approximately USD 3 billion. Investors in later rounds included Alkeon Capital, Steadfast Capital, and others.

Reaching market leadership, 2023 to 2026

Groww’s NSE-active client count surpassed Zerodha’s in 2023, the first time Zerodha had ceded the top position since discount broking established itself as the dominant retail segment in the late 2010s. As of January 2026, Groww’s NSE-active client count exceeded 12 million, while Zerodha’s stood at approximately 7 to 8 million. The divergence reflected three factors: (a) Groww’s structural advantage in converting its large mutual fund user base into stockbroking clients, (b) its marketing reach among younger, first-time investors from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and (c) Zerodha’s deliberate reduction in customer-acquisition spend after 2022.

IPO preparation

Groww filed or prepared for an initial public offering as of late 2025 and into 2026, with market participants anticipating an NSE and BSE listing. The IPO is expected to follow the post-T+1-listing-framework window. A draft red herring prospectus had not been filed with SEBI as of May 2026, but pre-IPO investor restructuring and governance preparation were extensively reported in industry media through 2025.

Corporate structure

Stockbroking operations are conducted through Groww Securities Private Limited (SEBI registration INZ000208032). Mutual fund distribution is through Groww Invest Tech Private Limited, registered with the Association of Mutual Funds in India under the AMFI ARN framework. Both entities are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Billionbrains Garage Ventures Private Limited, the group holding company incorporated in Karnataka.

Significant investors and their entry rounds include:

No single public shareholder held a majority stake as of the most recently reported cap-table disclosures. The founders collectively retained a meaningful equity position, consistent with a pre-IPO technology company.

Mutual fund distribution

The mutual fund distribution business, the original founding product, remains operationally and strategically central to Groww’s user-acquisition model.

Direct-plan execution-only positioning

Groww operates as an Execution-Only Platform (EOP) under the July 2023 SEBI framework. The platform receives no distribution commission from AMCs and does not offer advice in the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 sense. The economics of the mutual fund distribution business are near-zero on a transaction-margin basis; the function is positioned as a customer-acquisition channel that feeds the higher-margin stockbroking business.

Scheme coverage and integration

Groww offers direct-plan units of all SEBI-registered AMC schemes, including:

• Open-ended equity schemes across all 11 SEBI categories (large-cap , mid-cap , small-cap, multi-cap , flexi-cap , focused, sectoral and thematic, ELSS , value/contra, dividend yield, large and mid cap).
• Open-ended debt schemes across all 16 sub-categories.
• Hybrid schemes across all 7 sub-categories.
• Index funds and ETFs.
• New fund offers (NFOs).

The platform integrates with CAMS and KFin Technologies RTA infrastructure for transaction processing and folio management. Folio information is mirrored to the Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) framework and synchronised with the broader investor record across the corpus.

SIP infrastructure

Groww supports Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) with mandate options including:

• Physical NACH mandates for traditional bank-debit setup.
• e-NACH mandates via netbanking authentication.
• UPI AutoPay mandates for instant activation (post-2020 launch).

The platform supports SIP modifications, pauses, and cancellations within the AMC-prescribed framework. Step-up SIPs and trigger-based SIP variants are available depending on the AMC’s scheme-level support.

Tax reporting integration

Groww integrates with the Annual Information Statement (AIS) reporting framework. Capital gains statements for mutual fund redemptions are generated using CAMS and KFin source data and exported in formats compatible with ITR-2 and ITR-3 . The integration includes the grandfathering rule computation for pre-31-January-2018 equity-MF holdings.

Products and services

Equity trading

Groww provides access to NSE and BSE equity cash market trading for both intraday and delivery positions. Margin Trading Facility (MTF) allows eligible clients to take delivery positions with partial broker funding. Groww supports market, limit, stop-loss limit, and stop-loss market order types.

Equity derivatives

Futures and options on NSE are available after clients complete SEBI-mandated risk disclosure procedures. Supported instruments include index derivatives (Nifty 50, Bank Nifty, Sensex) and single-stock derivatives for SEBI-approved stocks. Weekly and monthly expiry contracts are both accessible.

US equities

Through a partnership with DriveWealth LLC, Groww offers fractional equity investments in NYSE- and NASDAQ-listed securities to Indian resident individuals under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which permits up to USD 250,000 in annual overseas investment. The product is subject to FEMA compliance and applicable US securities regulations.

Fixed deposits

Groww supports fixed deposit bookings with select partner banks and NBFCs without leaving the application. Term-deposit pricing and laddering are presented within the platform’s deposit interface.

Digital gold

Digital gold investment is available through MMTC-PAMP India Private Limited or SafeGold (Digital Gold India Private Limited). SEBI issued advisories in 2023 noting that digital gold is not a regulated financial instrument; Groww displays appropriate risk disclosures.

IPO applications

Groww supports ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) and UPI-mandated IPO applications for mainboard and SME platform issues listed on NSE and BSE, integrated with NPCI’s UPI IPO flow operated by NPCI .

Insurance

Following an Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) insurance broking licence, Groww introduced term life and health insurance distribution through its platform.

Charges

Groww follows the flat-fee discount brokerage model, charging Rs 20 per executed order or a percentage-based cap for most trading segments.

Account charges (approximate; verify current schedule at groww.in):

• Demat account opening: Nil
• Annual maintenance charge: Rs 0 for the first year; Rs 150 per annum thereafter
• Transaction charges, Securities Transaction Tax (STT), SEBI turnover fee, stamp duty, and Goods and Services Tax (GST) are passed through at regulatory rates

SEBI’s 2023 circular on true-to-label fee disclosure required brokers to display all applicable charges at the order-confirmation step; Groww implemented this requirement in its order flow.

Technology

Mobile application

The Groww app is available for Android and iOS. The onboarding journey uses Aadhaar-based eKYC and online in-person verification (OIPV) via a live selfie, allowing account opening within minutes for most applicants. The app crossed 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store by late 2025, making it one of the most installed stockbroking applications in India. The user interface is structured around a simplified dashboard explicitly designed for investors who may be engaging with equity markets for the first time. Advanced charting tools are present but limited relative to platforms such as Zerodha Kite or Upstox Pro Web.

Web platform

Groww’s web trading interface mirrors most app functionality, including order placement, portfolio tracking, SIP management, and mutual fund investment. The web platform supports equity and F&O order placement but does not offer sophisticated technical-analysis tooling.

Groww Pro

Groww Pro is a dedicated active-trading interface providing access to advanced order types, option chain data, and richer charting relative to the standard Groww interface. It targets traders who require more information density and order control than the main consumer app provides.

API access

Groww had not published a publicly documented third-party developer API as of early 2026, unlike Zerodha’s Kite Connect or Upstox’s open API. Algorithmic trading through Groww is limited to broker-provided systems and does not support custom integrations at the exchange co-location level in a publicly accessible form.

Regulatory registrations

The post-2023 EOP framework formalised the regulatory status of direct-plan platforms that do not provide advice, creating a clear safe harbour for the Groww distribution model.

Industry impact

Mutual fund distribution share

Groww’s mutual fund AUM under distribution was approximately Rs 40,000 crore as of 2023 and has continued to grow with the broader direct plan adoption in India trajectory. The platform is among the top three direct-plan execution-only platforms by sourced inflow, alongside Zerodha Coin and the joint MF Central portal operated by CAMS and KFin.

Retail-investor onboarding

Groww has been a substantial driver of retail mutual fund and stockbroking onboarding in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The combination of Aadhaar-eKYC onboarding, low minimum investment thresholds, and a mobile-first product design has reduced the practical barriers to first-time market entry. Industry surveys consistently identify Groww as the most-installed app among first-time retail investors aged 18 to 30.

Direct-plan ecosystem influence

Groww, alongside Kuvera, ET Money, and Zerodha Coin, was one of the principal drivers of the structural growth of direct-plan share of industry AUM from approximately 21 per cent in March 2016 to over 50 per cent by late 2025. The execution-only model that these platforms collectively established became the regulatory basis for the post-2023 EOP framework.

Comparison with peer platforms

Versus Zerodha

Both operate as SEBI-registered discount brokers with a flat Rs 20-per-order brokerage structure for intraday and F&O and zero brokerage on equity delivery. The principal differences:

• Target audience: Groww targets first-time investors; Zerodha’s Kite platform serves active traders.
• Mutual fund depth: Groww’s mutual fund distribution, originating pre-2020, has a wider first-time-investor user base; Zerodha Coin serves the same function for Zerodha clients.
• API ecosystem: Zerodha’s Kite Connect API supports thousands of registered algorithmic-trading developers; Groww has no equivalent public API.
• US equities: Groww offers fractional US equity through DriveWealth; Zerodha does not.
• Revenue per client: Zerodha generates higher revenue per active client (more active trader base); Groww leads on absolute client count.
• Educational content: Zerodha’s Varsity platform is substantially more developed than Groww’s in-app content.

The detailed comparison is at Zerodha versus Groww .

Versus pure-play MF distribution platforms

Versus Kuvera, ET Money, and INDmoney (which are MF-distribution-focused and do not operate broking arms), Groww offers a broader product range (equity, F&O, IPO applications) and consequently a more integrated user journey. The pure-play MF platforms compete on user experience for mutual-fund-only customers and on adviser tools for the RIA channel.

Versus joint RTA infrastructure

MF Central , the joint CAMS-KFin investor portal, is positioned as a neutral cross-RTA infrastructure rather than a commercial competitor. Groww and MF Central are complementary rather than directly competitive; MF Central provides consolidated cross-AMC view for existing investors, while Groww is the principal acquisition channel for new investors.

Criticism and debates

Sustainability of zero-commission MF distribution

The zero-commission direct-plan distribution model produces no transaction-margin revenue and depends on cross-subsidisation from stockbroking. Industry commentary has periodically questioned whether the model is sustainable in the long run, particularly as customer-acquisition costs in the broader fintech sector rise. Groww’s response has been that the customer-lifetime value across the full product suite (broking, IPO, US equity, insurance) substantially exceeds the customer-acquisition cost.

Beginner-investor protection

The platform’s mobile-first design, while accessible, has been criticised for making it too easy for first-time investors to enter complex products including F&O without adequate risk-disclosure friction. SEBI’s 2023 and 2024 enforcement focus on retail-trader losses in F&O has produced regulatory pressure on Groww and peers to add risk-warning disclosure layers, which Groww has progressively implemented.

Customer service scaling

Customer-service scaling to the 12-million-active-client base has been a recurring complaint area in retail-investor forums. Issue-resolution timelines and the friction of escalation to the SEBI SCORES portal have produced regulatory and reputational pressure on the company through 2024 and 2025.

Recent developments

See also

• Mutual fund
• Mutual fund industry in India
• Direct plan adoption in India
• Regular plan versus direct plan
• SEBI EOP Regulations 2023
• SEBI Investment Management Department
• AMFI
• AMFI ARN
• SIP in India
• Total Expense Ratio (TER)
• Mutual fund consolidated account statement (CAS)
• CAMS
• KFin Technologies
• MF Central
• MFU (Mutual Fund Utility)
• Kuvera
• ET Money
• INDmoney
• Zerodha
• Zerodha Coin
• Zerodha versus Groww
• Upstox
• Angel One
• Angel One Mutual Fund
• Annual Information Statement (AIS)
• Capital gains tax in India
• Grandfathering rule for LTCG
• Large Cap mutual fund in India
• Flexi Cap mutual fund in India
• Mid Cap mutual fund in India
• ELSS mutual fund in India
• NPCI
• ITR-2
• ITR-3

References

1. NSE Active Client Data, monthly broker statistics, National Stock Exchange of India.
2. SEBI broker registration records, Groww Securities Private Limited (INZ000208032).
3. Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings, Billionbrains Garage Ventures Private Limited.
4. AMFI Distributor Lookup, Groww Invest Tech Private Limited, Association of Mutual Funds in India.
5. RBI Liberalised Remittance Scheme Master Direction, 2016, as amended through 2024.
6. SEBI Circular on True-to-Label Fee Disclosure, Securities and Exchange Board of India, September 2023.
7. SEBI Circular on Execution-Only Platform Framework, Securities and Exchange Board of India, July 2023.
8. SEBI Advisory on Digital Gold Products, Securities and Exchange Board of India, 2023.
9. IRDAI Insurance Broker Registration Records.
10. Y Combinator Batch Listing, Winter 2018.
11. SEBI Master Circular on Mutual Funds, SEBI/HO/IMD/IMD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2024/137, 27 May 2024.
12. AMFI Industry Data, monthly AUM disclosures, Association of Mutual Funds in India.