Lalit Keshre: The humble origins of CEO of Groww, now India's largest stockbroker

Produced by: Tarun Mishra
Designed by: Mohsin Shaikh

Bengaluru-based Groww, led by co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre, has recently achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing India's leading stockbroker, Zerodha, in terms of active investors

Groww pips Zerodha

Groww's ascent in the financial world is marked by its victory over Zerodha, as per National Stock Exchange (NSE) data. At the end of September 2023, Groww boasted 6.63 million active investors, outpacing Zerodha's 6.48 million

Groww's growing client base

Lalit Keshre's journey is a testament to perseverance. Hailing from a farming family in the small village of Lepa, Madhya Pradesh, his path to success is a story of determination and hard work

Keshre's humble origins

Lalit Keshre's studied at an English-medium school in the Khargone district. After completing his 12th standard, he learned about the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and secured a seat at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, thus kickstarting his remarkable journey

Keshre's academic
achievements

Lalit Keshre's career journey took him through e-commerce giant Flipkart, where he served as one of the first product managers, overseeing the Flipkart Marketplace. In 2016, he made the bold decision to venture into entrepreneurship, co-founding Groww with three other former Flipkart colleagues

Keshre's transition to
entrepreneurship

Groww's platform offers users an accessible means of investing in stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs, US stocks, futures, options, fixed deposits, and gold. Its credibility is underscored by investments from prominent figures like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global

What Groww offers

The fintech startup's rapid rise is evident in its user base, which grew from around 0.78 million users in FY21 to 5.78 million investors by the end of FY23

Groww's impressive growth

Groww's market share in active traders stood at 20.35% at the end of September 2023, followed closely by Zerodha at 19.9%. This positions them as frontrunners in the competitive landscape, with AngelOne, Upstox, and ICICI Securities following

How brokers stack up

Despite India's substantial 129.7 million demat accounts, only 33.4 million individuals actively engage in trading on the exchange annually, highlighting the vast untapped potential within the financial markets

Potential for growth in
user base

Notably, Nextbillion Technology, the operator of fintech unicorn Groww, reported a remarkable 10.73X year-on-year (YoY) rise in profit after tax (PAT) for FY23

Financials of Groww