MC Interview: No trade-offs for short-term gains: Groww CEO Lalit Keshre on IPO and long-term focus

Edited excerpts:

You're meeting with domestic funds, foreign funds, investors in public markets. What's the feedback been on the Groww IPO?

Oh, it has been good so far. We look at IPO as a start of the journey now, like where we are building for the long term. So, getting listed kind of adds a lot more accountability and trust. We hope to continue our journey from here.

In terms of the IPO size, the price, are you comfortable with the money that you're leaving on the table for investors? Do you think the valuation is reasonable?

This is like one of the events and start of the journey. Typically, what happens is buyers, sellers, bankers, they come together. And then you kind of also look at the industry peers and internet companies and so on. And then, whatever your leadership is, or whatever your growth rate is, whatever your profit margins are. You can compare on multiples. And then you give either, you give some premium for leadership growth and then you give a discount because you want to kind of create a win-win kind of situation. It is a kind of process which is very different from what we have been doing so far.

Groww would be 33.8 times PE for FY25 compared to, I think, Angel One, which will be 29.1, which I think is what people are comparing…

We don't kind of try to compare or comment on anybody else. I think as far as Groww is concerned, we are very excited about the future. We have done well so far, showing good resilience.

One of the key issues for all stockbrokers this year, or actually starting from last year, has been the tightening SEBI regulations on trading. So, was there any feedback from any investors, bankers on how this will impact your IPO process?

Since 2016, when we started, we have seen a lot of progressive regulation. I think our regulator is the most progressive across the world. And a lot of things that they brought in helped us grow. I don’t think Groww would have been where it is, if not for those.

India is the only country that is going to compound so fast over the next many years. And capital markets are a core component that will continue growing. As Groww, we are a lead player in this, we'll continue expanding and growing the market.

Most brokers are seeing a decline in revenue. You also saw a 10 percent drop in Q1. The first few quarters after you become public could see a drop in revenue. How do you address this challenge to investors?

So, the way we look at quarters is execution. But our long-term vision, our kind of goals— nothing changes there. So, our strategies remain the same. We will keep building for the customers, keep investing in the technology that provides superior customer experience, also kind of from a business perspective, better operating leverage, continue building brands.

Groww is today a household brand for millions of people across. We cover 98% of the pin codes now, more than 80% customers are from beyond tier-6 cities. So, we continue doing that. And, yeah —within the company, we look at month on month. We are not going to change the way we work. We will still be long-term, we’ll still kind of be very customer-focused and product velocity will continue to be managed based on how we are doing.

Could you give us a sense of how you are diversifying the revenue mix and how fast you can do that? Because you're very bullish on the wealth management segment, you acquired FISDOM recently…

Since day one, we have aspired to become a multi-product company. A multi-product, direct-to-customer, and built on a tech backbone. Because of that our revenues will continue getting diversified, and from quarter to quarter also, there was some flavour there, revenues have shown a lot more resilience.

One of your rivals in the last week has spoken about entering US stocks through GIFT City, offering FD as a product. Are those some things that you will consider? You were doing it earlier…

So, see, every six months we revisit our product roadmap, what customers want. We have 14 plus products on the platform right now. And if you look at the sequencing also, it's based on what customers want most. There were some products that we launched and discontinued because of PMF (product-market fit) not being met.

We continue experimenting, but this is how we build. And right now, wealth is one big priority. Margin Trading facility or lending scale-up is priority. We're just launching commodities, and then there will be a lot more products that we will continue evaluating and building based on customer demand.

So, you're leaning towards yes or no?

Yes for all the products—whatever exists in the wealth. Like, you have to build wealth, you want to invest in that, it will be on Groww.

What does the future roadmap look like? Are you going to be a more wealth-tech platform?

So, our identity is—we are the wealth platform, the investing platform of the country, where millions of people would come, affluent, aspirational—all categories of customers would come, they will invest in some of the core anchor products. And then out of these customers, there are like different segments that get created, like, some of them get very affluent. So, if you look at our data in DRHP, like, the growth in the affluent category is more than two times faster than our overall platform growth. Why? Because a lot of our customers who spend more time on Groww become affluent.

And then also, as we became number one, two and a half years back, a lot of affluent customers started coming from other platforms on Groww. And hence, the growth rate is more than 2x. So, that category of customers now—they need wealth management, because once your AUM is significantly higher. That’s the primary reason why we acquired FISDOM. Then the second segment of customers—they are like power traders, right? They need more and more tools. So, we build a lot more power tools.

Most of the well-heeled customers, like the top 5-10 percent of the population, in the country are already catered to by the existing players. Where will the next phase of growth come for Groww? Most brokers saw a decline in active investors in 2025…

In 2015–16, when we were thinking about Groww how many stock market investors were there? If India is growing, capital markets are growing, and you go towards how developed countries are in terms of market penetration… that is going to happen. So, percentage-wise, we are still very small. And then wealth also, if you see today, trillions of dollars of wealth in India is in traditional assets. And as countries develop, that also moves to financial assets. So, you will see more and more happening.

How is life going to change for you as the CEO of a listed company with the quarter-to-quarter approach now?

You have to be accountable and we will be accountable but we will always think long-term, and we will always think about the customers. So far, if you look at our investor shareholders, also kind of aligned. And I don't think we are going to change this belief.

We always, like, told what it is. Whatever is, we will tell that. Like, if there is no gap between what is and what you want to tell.

In your conversation with potential investors, current investors, what are the one or two concerns they have brought up to your notice? Does it involve the regulatory side, the growth side?

It depends. There are different kinds of investors, is what we have learned. Like, and everybody has different kinds of questions. I will not say concerns, but different kinds of questions. And that also helps us identify what is the kind of investor—like, are the questions more long-term or short-term or about this or that, and so on. I think every investor is different.

I am not going to make any trade-off. Groww is long-term, customer-focused. This is our philosophy.

What does this milestone mean for you, Harsh, Ishan, and Neeraj, as founders of this startup?

Groww becomes a lot more accountable, more trust, because, you know, now—and also it's happiness, because now your customers also get to be your shareholders. And our bosses are the real customers. But now, I think, from the shareholder perspective also, they become our boss, we build for them.

Do you have any thoughts on the timing of the listing…

So, everybody who comes on Groww platform, we say time in the market is more important than timing the market. Starting early is important. I mean, if you're listed, then how does it matter? Like, time—you're always in the market, right?