Groww’s user surge sets up future growth, ARPU dip misleading, Says CEO

Groww

Online investment platform Groww has pushed back against concerns over its declining average revenue per user (ARPU), saying the metric must be viewed through the lens of cohort growth, not headline averages. Rapid expansion in new users — which jumped 7.39 million in FY24 to 11.68 million in FY25 — has mathematically pulled down ARPU from Rs 3,520 in FY24 to Rs 3,339 in FY25. But CEO Lalit Keshre said the surge lays the foundation for much stronger monetisation ahead.

Speaking at the company’s IPO conference on Wednesday, Keshre said, “You should look at our revenue per user on a cohort basis — it grows every year. When we add a large number of users in a particular year, the base expands much faster than revenue, which brings down the average in aggregate terms. But this expansion sets us up for future growth.”

Groww (Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd) will soon hit Dalal Street with its Rs 6,632-crore IPO, valuing the fintech unicorn at Rs 61,700 crore (USD 7.3 billion). The issue opens November 4 and will be one of India’s largest brokerage IPOs.

Keshre cited broking, mutual funds, wealth management and investment advisory, and the recent Indiabulls AMC acquisition as key monetisation levers. He also underlined that Groww’s economics are driven by in-house technology, not just user growth.

“Around 90% of our payment transactions are processed on our own systems,” he said, adding that the company employs over 500 people in technology roles. “When our own UPI is used, the success rate and transaction times are significantly better.” Most of these spending items are expensed as employee costs, not capitalised.

On whether Groww will do more acquisitions after buying Fisdom to expand wealth management capability, co-founder Harsh Jain said, “Not right now… but we will be ready for building any such capability beyond the short term.”

Asked about enabling global investing on the platform, he said: “We might be slow and not among the firsts, but definitely won’t be the last. First, we need proper regulatory assessment and cleanliness.”

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