Indian online brokerage Groww made a strong market debut, raising ₹66.3 billion ($748 million) in an initial public offering that finished its first day of trading up 29 percent from the issue price, valuing the firm at nearly ₹795 billion ($9 billion). The listing is one of the largest this year for India’s fintech sector, and a sign that the country’s retail investing boom continues to gather steam.
Shares of Groww were priced at ₹100, opened at ₹112 and closed at ₹128.85, fueled by strong day-one demand. The listing also solidifies investor confidence in the discount broking model that has introduced millions of first-time Indians to equities, mutual funds and derivatives.
Retail Investors Fueling a New Market Cycle
Groww’s ascent follows a structural change in Indian household savings to financial assets. Central Depository Services data show that the number of demat accounts has more than doubled since 2020, to over 100 million as low-cost apps, faster onboarding and financial literacy campaigns have brought new participants into the market. The mutual fund body, the Association of Mutual Funds in India, has also recently reported record systematic investment plan inflows, which reaffirms consistent retail participation across cycles.
Groww’s scale is notable against that backdrop. The company has more than 14 million active users as of June and over 12.6 million active National Stock Exchange clients, according to its IPO documents. And while it vies with incumbents such as Zerodha and Angel One for market share, the Groww pitch to those first-time investors — easy-to-use interfaces, fractional investing on U.S. stocks through partners and a tight product loop between brokerage and funds — has helped carve out space where the startup can compete.
Solid Financials and a Broader Fintech Bet
For the financial year ending March 2025, Groww reported ₹39 billion ($440 million) in revenue and ₹18 billion ($206 million) in net profit, signaling operating leverage as trading volumes and customer activity grew. Stockbroking is still the economic engine but management has been careful to try and fill out that stack into lending, margin products, asset management, payments and insurance brokerage.
The company says it will use proceeds of the IPO to buttress cloud and technology infrastructure, marketing and further investment in lending and margin trading; a war chest for future acquisitions is being put aside. Look for spending to flood risk systems, credit underwriting and compliance — the sorts of things that increasingly separate winners from also-rans in a crowded brokerage market as the Securities and Exchange Board of India tightens guardrails around leverage and investor protection.
IPO Demand and Shifts in the Company’s Cap Table
The sale was nearly 18 times covered, supported by institutional bids and a high-quality anchor book of about ₹30 billion that was raised before the issue. Others took money off the table in the sale, too, including early backers Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Sequoia as a roster of prominent investors — from Microsoft’s Satya Nadella to Y Combinator — backed up the company’s global credentials.
The listing is a milestone for Y Combinator, which, with Groww’s move to shift its corporate base to India ahead of the IPO, now has one active portfolio company on the Indian public exchange. That switch is part of a larger trend where Indian unicorns are simplifying structures to access domestic capital markets and index inclusion down the line.
A Busy Week for India Tech Listings and IPOs
Groww’s debut comes as the IPO window for venture-backed companies is opening back up. Eyewear retailer Lenskart went public earlier this week, and is followed by payments platform Pine Labs with a fully subscribed offering. Education platform PhysicsWallah and enterprise software player Capillary Technologies are also in the queue — momentum which indicates better profitability profiles and a larger pool of domestic institutions chasing growth assets.
What to Watch Next for Groww and India’s Market Cycle
In the near term, focus will shift to post-listing volatility, and whether trading maintains the revenue base throughout more tranquil periods in markets. In the medium run, investors will monitor how quickly Groww scales its lending and margin products while maintaining asset quality — at a time when regulators cast a watchful eye on leverage, suitability and mis-selling across the ecosystem.
Longer term, the growth thesis hinges on deeper penetration in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, cross-sell into insurance and mutual funds getting better (wider), and financialisation of household savings continuing. As noted by the company’s CEO Lalit Keshre in the listing ceremony, it was early momentum for the company that accrued by tapping latent demand among first-time investors. The next chapter will be one of translating that trust into a full-stack wealth relationship in the face of greater competition and regulation.
