Groww Q2 profit rises 12% even as revenue dips; focus shifts to wealth products

Bengaluru: Online brokerage and investing platform Groww's year-on-year revenue declined around 9% in the September quarter to Rs 1,018 crore, following last year's regulatory changes in derivatives. Its net profit, however, rose 12% to Rs 471 crore during the period.On the post-results call, cofounder and CEO Lalit Keshre told analysts that Groww still views itself as being at the beginning of a long expansion cycle. "Although it has been more than nine years, we still feel that we are just starting in our journey," he said, adding that the firm will continue "spearheading this democratisation of financial services in the country."Keshre stressed that the platform's roadmap will be shaped by customer demand, not by pushing products. "Our philosophy has been to always do right by the customer, keep building for them, create the best product experience," he said. As more users enter the platform and begin with a single product, "they build their wealth, they continue buying more and more products," he added, noting that Groww has launched more than 10 offerings and sees "a long roadmap" ahead.The CEO said the company will focus over the next few years on deepening usage of existing offerings rather than rolling out everything at once. He pointed to broking products such as the margin trading facility (MTF) and commodities, as well as the early stages of its wealth management strategy. A key theme for the next phase, he noted, is the rise of more affluent customers who need advisory and wealth solutions."We are building India's largest investing and wealth platform," Keshre said, while declining to give specifics on monetisation for mutual fund users. Some products, he added, "either will have low monetisation or will be monetised in future," emphasising that the priority is a customer-first platform, with monetisation following later.On lending products like MTF and loans against mutual funds, Keshre described them as second-step offerings for existing equity customers rather than acquisition tools. Price competition was not a key concern. "Pricing is not the reason why customers choose platform A versus platform B. The experience is what matters," he said, adding that customers typically expand their usage within the same platform over time.Groww's shareholder letter highlighted its 26.3% share of NSE active clients and 13.1% share of mutual fund SIP inflows as of the September quarter. The company recently completed its acquisition of wealth platform Fisdom, which contributes about 3% of revenue and is near break-even. Keshre said integration is underway and more updates on the combined wealth business will follow in coming quarters.

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