Around the same time, Zerodha’s active-client count stood at 8 million. Even currently, Groww leads the market with a 26.57% share, while Zerodha held 16.25 % share with 7.96 million users.
As the largest platform by user base, Groww has greater reach, a potentially bigger data pool, more potential for cross-selling and scale advantages.
How do this happen?
Groww had captured a large share of first-time investors and Tier-2 and Tier-3 city users, who were underserved by older brokers, a playbook that Zerodha itself pioneered. The company had marketed itself as investing made easy via its app, offering mutual funds, equities, US stocks and IPOs in one place. Later it discontinued the US product offering.
Groww has also raised large funds, enabling brand, user acquisition and product launch push.
Groww’s latest pre-IPO round (Series F) raised about $200 million (Rs 1,735 crore) in June 2025, led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd and ICONIQ Capital, valuing the company at around $7 billion. In 2021, it had raised about $251 million in its Series E round (Rs 2,000+ crore). Zerodha, on the other hand, has followed a principle of keeping private fundraising at arm’s length.
Recently, Nithin Kamath while talking about a broader point of valuations argued that aggressive spending to acquire users makes it difficult for competitors to catch up. However, Zerodha is still known for its deep trust and loyalty while Groww arguably had a more aggressive growth mindset using the platform approach.
Business metrics and scale: Still a gap
Despite the lead in user numbers, the financial profiles show that Zerodha remains stronger in absolute profitability and deeper revenue per user. Groww reported revenue of Rs 3,902 crore for FY25 (up 49% from FY24’s Rs 2,609 crore), and posted net profit of Rs 1,824 crore after earlier losses. By Q1FY26 it posted revenue of Rs 904.4 crore and profit of Rs 378.4 crore.
By contrast, Zerodha generated about Rs 8,500 crore in revenue and profit of around Rs 4,200 crore in FY25 — significantly higher than Groww’s financials even though its user base is smaller.
Groww might have won the battle for user numbers, but Zerodha retains a lead in depth of monetisation — meaning each of its clients, on average, generates more value.
Headwinds persist
Groww still needs to raise how much revenue it earns per user relative to pioneers like Zerodha. Further, for the broking business, heavy reliance on derivatives (F&O) trading volumes is risky. Regulators are tightening norms. Groww is already expanding to other products like wealth management, margin-trading facilities and other services to reduce dependence on trading volumes.
Analysts say that even small changes in derivative trading volumes can affect earnings. “A 5% drop in F&O orders can drag Groww’s revenue and profit by up to 5%. So until regulatory clarity emerges, short-term volatility in earnings can’t be ruled out,” said Nitin Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Bonanza.
Data also shows that both Groww and Zerodha lost some active clients in H1 2025 amid market caution and heightened competition from smaller brokers. With regulatory overhang, it will be interesting to see how both the players navigate the volatile period in the short run.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
