Groww Case Study: Business Model, Revenue & How It Became India’s No.1 Stock Broker

A Simple Question That Sparked a Revolution

In 2016, four engineers from Flipkart—Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal—kept asking, “Why is investing harder than buying a T-shirt?” Flipkart had made online shopping seamless. Could investing become just as easy?

That curiosity turned into conviction. They quit their jobs and started something new. They named it Groww—a platform built to simplify investing for millions of Indians.

The First Version: Robo-Advisory Failure, Mutual Fund Success

Their initial idea? A robo-advisor that manages money for users automatically. But Indian investors weren’t ready to trust algorithms with their savings. The plan fell flat.

The pivot? A simple, direct mutual fund investment app. No complex dashboards, no paperwork. They expected 100 users in the first month. Instead, they got 600. That’s when the founders knew—they had tapped into something real.

From Mutual Funds to Stocks to Everything

Groww soon evolved. Users could now open a demat account, buy stocks, invest in ETFs, and even purchase digital gold—all with a few taps.

By 2024, Groww added over 6 million users in a single year, grabbing 40% of all new demat accounts on NSE. The app was now competing with giants like Zerodha.

By March 2024:

• 9.5 million active users
• 23.4% market share

By 2025:

• 13+ million active users
• Became India’s No.1 stock broker by active clients

The Pandemic Surge: When Bedrooms Became Trading Desks

March 2020 changed everything. Stock markets crashed. People were stuck at home—and curious. Competitors’ servers slowed down. But Groww’s cloud-based stack performed smoothly.

More people started investing. More people downloaded Groww. The momentum exploded.

Growth Fueled by Education, Not Ads

Open Groww’s YouTube channel. You’ll find videos in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi—explaining finance in bite-sized formats. One video calmly shows how to open a demat account.

This educational content built trust, especially among first-time investors. It worked better than any celebrity ad.

Users didn’t just sign up. They told their friends, shared Reels, forwarded WhatsApp messages. Word-of-mouth turned users into marketers.

By Dec 2024:

• 26.6% of NSE’s market share
• Doubled its share from 2023

But How Does Groww Make Money?

• Mutual funds: No brokerage—but idle money in wallets earns interest (float income)
• Stocks, F&O: Brokerage per trade and volume-based income

In FY 2023–24:

• Revenue: ₹2,900 crore
• Profit after tax: ₹298 crore (4x growth from the previous year)

A ₹1,340 Crore Tax Shock—But Only on Paper

In 2024, Groww shifted its parent company from Delaware to Bengaluru. This triggered a one-time ₹1,340 crore tax, a technical accounting cost.

On paper, this created an ₹805 crore consolidated loss, but the core broking business remained profitable. The loss was more of a formality than a crisis.

The Big Bold Move: Increasing Brokerage

In May 2025, Groww raised the minimum brokerage from ₹2 to ₹5 per order—a 150% hike.

Twitter (X) users complained. But early numbers showed users didn’t leave. Groww’s brand trust was now strong enough to handle pricing power.

Tech That Feels Like Magic

One of Groww’s biggest strengths is its lightning-fast development cycle. The platform is known for rolling out new features within days, directly influenced by user feedback. For instance, when users requested dark mode on social media, a beta version was released within the same week. Similarly, user suggestions about simplifying complex financial terms led to streamlined in-app language that feels intuitive to even first-time investors.

Behind the scenes, Groww operates on a robust infrastructure spread across three cloud providers. This ensures stability, speed, and scalability. Yet, the app experience remains lightweight and familiar, almost like browsing a social media feed rather than navigating a traditional trading terminal. This combination of heavy-duty back-end technology and user-first front-end simplicity is what makes Groww feel magical.

Solving Real Problems, Not Just Selling Shares

Since its inception, Groww has focused on solving real customer pain points, not just on increasing downloads or pushing product sales. Take hidden charges—Groww eliminated them. Long queues and wait times for KYC verification? Replaced with video KYC, allowing users to get verified from home. Language barriers that made finance feel intimidating? The platform now offers educational content in over five Indian languages.

This emphasis on clarity and respect made users feel understood. It wasn’t just about transactions; it was about trust. In fact, after launching the "Learn" tab, which contains simplified educational content, Groww saw a significant drop in support tickets by as much as 50%. Retention rates improved as users felt empowered to make decisions, not overwhelmed by jargon or upselling.

What’s Next for Groww?

Groww has no plans to stop at stock broking. The company is aggressively expanding into lending, insurance, and UPI-based services. As of March 2025, it was in the midst of a pre-IPO funding round, with its valuation estimated at around $6.8 billion.

Despite the new verticals, the mission remains unchanged: to make investing as simple and routine as scanning a QR code. By sticking to its core philosophy of user empowerment through simplicity, Groww continues to attract India’s next generation of retail investors.

What’s Next for Groww?

• Expanding into lending, insurance, and UPI
• Preparing for an IPO (valuation ~ $6.8 billion as of March 2025)

Yet the mission stays the same: make investing as easy as scanning a barcode.

Challenges Ahead

• Stricter SEBI regulations
• Market volatility
• New fintech competitors every quarter
• Scaling without losing simplicity

One outage or bad experience can erode user trust. But the founding principle—“keep it simple, keep it honest”—still resonates in India’s growing retail investor market.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

You don’t have to be in fintech to learn from Groww. Whether you run a tech startup or a physical business, here’s what stands out:

• Solve a real problem that others ignore
• Remove friction, then scale
• Teach before you sell
• Let users become your marketers
• Build trust before chasing profits

When your product feels like magic, customers will promote it for free.

Final Thoughts

Groww’s rise—from a Bengaluru flat to over 13 million investors—isn’t just about apps and analytics. It’s about understanding people. About trust. Simplicity. And execution.

So the next time you open the Groww app or see the green leaf logo, remember: it started with one question. “Why is investing so hard?”

That one question made investing simpler for millions—and built India’s most profitable stockbroker in the process.

FAQs

Q1. Is Groww profitable in 2025?

 Yes. Its broking arm made ₹298 crore profit in FY 2023–24.

Q2. How did Groww grow so fast?

 By simplifying investing, using educational content, and leveraging word-of-mouth.

Q3. Does Groww charge for mutual funds?

 No. It earns through float income and premium services.

Q4. Is Groww preparing for an IPO?

 Yes. As of March 2025, it was raising a pre-IPO round at ~$6.8 billion valuation.

Q5. What can other startups learn from Groww?

 Focus on simplicity, customer trust, fast feedback, and education over advertising.