Competition doesn’t limit growth in India: Groww’s Lalit Keshre on building a full

Synopsis

After steering Groww to a blockbuster IPO in under a decade, Keshre was named Entrepreneur of the Year at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2025, having outpaced legacy bank-backed brokerages and established fintech incumbents.

Listen to this article in summarized format

Lalit Keshre cofounded Groww in 2016; a decade later, the Bengaluru-based fintech firm has 21 million users, a market cap that has surged to Rs 1.27 lakh crore from Rs 79,000 crore when it listed in November last year, and ambitions that stretch well beyond stock broking.

Having steered the startup to a blockbuster IPO in just under a decade, Keshre was picked as the Entrepreneur of the Year at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence jury for successfully overtaking legacy bank-backed brokerages and profitable fintechs that once dominated the space.

Keshre is now focused on Groww’s next phase, which is building out a full-stack wealth management and lending platform to reduce the company’s dependence on trading revenue.

“Over the next five years, we will continue building our wealth management platform. We will keep identifying gaps in financial services and launch products that go very deep, striving to create ten times better user experience,” he told ET in an interview.

Last year, Groww acquired wealthtech firm Fisdom for Rs 961 crore, with the aim of making it profitable on a standalone basis by FY28. It also runs W, a brand launched by the company to target high-net-worth individuals.

“Wealth isn’t just for affluent customers. Anyone building wealth through mutual funds, stocks, bonds is part of that journey. We’ve launched multiple products based on customer demand. As users mature financially, their needs evolve. For example, higher net worth users require different services and products,” he said.

Groww has emerged as a front-runner to acquire Prudential India’s asset management business. The bid is part of the company’s efforts to expand its presence from a distribution platform into a full-scale asset manager.

Without commenting on the Prudential deal, Keshre termed asset management as a long-term business. “It takes time to build and compounds over decades. But it’s also a very strong business from a financial standpoint. We believe we have a right to win in certain areas. Some of our funds are already performing well.”

Global asset manager State Street Investment Management has invested $65 million (about Rs 580 crore) in Groww Asset Management Company for a 23% stake.

Building beyond broking

Groww began life with mutual funds in 2016, moved into stock broking in 2020 and grew quickly to become the largest broker by active users, overtaking Zerodha. NSE data show around 45 million active traders in the country today, of whom 12.7 million trade on Groww.

In the financial year ended March 31, 2026, Groww expanded its user base by 25%. Operating revenue grew 20% from the year before to Rs 4,644 crore, and it posted a net profit of Rs 2,083 crore.

The numbers hold up very well against a volatile backdrop, though the broking business remains sensitive to trading volumes and market sentiment.

New-age brokers have faced scrutiny for their heavy dependence on futures and options trading (F&O), a business that regulators have periodically flagged for its risks to retail investors.

Groww has been working to reduce that exposure. F&O now account for around 55% of revenue, with stocks and commodity derivatives contributing 20% and lending another 12%.

Margin trade financing and wealth management are the two areas Keshre is prioritising next.

“A risk-resilient business is built when there are multiple revenue lines to draw from,” he said.

Groww had also attempted a digital banking platform at one point but shelved it when it didn’t gain traction.

Despite growing rivalry across broking and wealthtech, Keshre is largely dismissive of the competitive threat. “We don’t think about competition at all…In India, growth is not limited by competition, it is limited by penetration and financial awareness.”

Also Read: VC-backed wealth management startups see revenue rise, losses widen

Female investors

Market participation has increased considerably since Groww launched, but remains relatively low by global standards. Female investors now account for around 30% of the platform’s user base, and the company has seen rising activity from smaller cities. Whether these trends hold as markets stay volatile is a question the business will have to answer over time.

“As more people start investing and as wealth increases, the opportunity itself expands,” Keshre said.

“The biggest mistake startups make is focusing too much on competitors. It’s better to focus on how large this market can become.”

His target segment for the wealth play is the new generation of high-net-worth individuals who prefer self-directed, digital-first investing over traditional advisory relationships.

Also Read: Groww steps up wealth play via MF and portfolio management solutions

Navigating cycles, regulation

Broking platforms are structurally exposed to market cycles, making the business a risky one as it is dependent on externals.

“Markets are the ultimate driver, you can’t control that,” he said. “What you can do is build for different customer needs across cycles.” Groww’s diversification into lending and wealth management is partly a hedge against this vulnerability.

On regulation, Keshre said a tighter oversight is broadly positive. “We are dealing with customers’ money, so regulation is important. It builds trust and brings more people into the market. Regulatory changes can create short-term friction, but they strengthen the system over time,” he said.

Also Read: Zerodha turns its ‘Coin’ into a passive wealth management hub

“There is a long way to go,” he said. “As customers get wealthy, they will need better services around wealth management.”

On the broader market, Keshre remained optimistic about the long-term trajectory of India’s capital markets especially for new-age firms. “A lot of startups have scaled over the past decade, and many of them will get listed,” he said. “We are still very early in terms of market penetration.”

While recent months have seen some slowdown in IPO activity, he described it as cyclical rather than structural. “Markets decide pricing. As entrepreneurs, our job is to build strong businesses,” he said.

The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2025 will be presented on Saturday, April 25, in Mumbai.

(Catch all the Technology News News, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

...more