Groww

Is Groww safe?

For an Indian investor, the basic protections at Groww are the same strong ones every SEBI broker must follow, and the company behind it is large and profitable. Your shares sit in your own demat account at CDSL, not in a pool held by the broker, and client cash has to be handed to the exchanges' clearing corporations every night. The parent company, Billionbrains Garage Ventures, earned ₹2,083 crore in the year to March 2026. We score Groww 78/100.

The weak spots are operational. SEBI found that during a January 2024 outage Groww had no phone lines or backup terminals for clients, and that its security testing was ineffective. Groww settled that case and a second inspection case in May 2025.

Who holds my account?

You sign up with Groww Invest Tech Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Nextbillion Technology), a SEBI-registered stock broker (INZ000301838) and member of NSE, BSE and MCX. The same company is a depository participant of CDSL (IN-DP-417-2019), which is how your demat account is opened. It is a subsidiary of Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd, listed on NSE and BSE since November 2025.

Groww is the largest Indian broker by active clients. Its investor relations page showed 24.1 million transacting users and ₹3.72 lakh crore of customer assets in October 2026 (₹1 lakh crore is ₹1 trillion). Groww serves Indian residents; it is not a choice for UK, EU or US investors.

How is my money protected?

India does not have a single scheme like SIPC in the US or the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary in the UK. Protection comes from three layers instead.

• Shares in your own name. Stocks and ETFs bought through Groww are credited to your demat account at CDSL. A broker cannot use them as margin without a pledge you approve with an OTP from the depository, a rule in force since September 2020.
• No client cash left overnight. Since July 2023 SEBI has required brokers to pass all client funds to the clearing corporations at the end of each day, as cash, a lien on a fixed deposit, or units of overnight funds. The rule closes the gap that let some failed brokers use client money for their own purposes.
• Investor protection funds. If an exchange declares a broker a defaulter, its investor protection fund pays legitimate client claims up to a per-investor limit that each exchange sets and must review at least every three years. NSE's fund pays up to ₹35 lakh per investor, raised from ₹25 lakh for brokers declared defaulter or expelled after 13 August 2024. Claims can take months.

There is no excess insurance on top, and none of this covers market losses. Mutual funds bought on Groww are held with the fund houses, so they do not depend on the broker at all.

Is Groww financially strong?

Yes, by the standards of the brokers we score. Billionbrains Garage Ventures reported audited consolidated revenue of ₹4,645 crore and profit of ₹2,083 crore for 2025-26, up from ₹1,824 crore the year before. The group also paid a one-time tax of ₹1,340 crore when it moved its holding company from the US to India. In the six months to September 2026 it earned ₹1,460 crore, and equity stood at ₹11,656 crore. The auditor is B S R & Co. LLP.

Most revenue still comes from trading, much of it in equity derivatives. A fall in options trading is the main business risk, but the company is profitable enough that this is not a safety concern for client assets.

What has SEBI found?

Both cases were settled without Groww admitting or denying the findings.

Groww had another outage on 27 April 2026, when users could not log in. In December 2025 it launched Groww Lite, a lighter backup app for trading when the main app has problems. We found no case in which clients lost securities or cash held with Groww. BSE ordered a ₹2.5 lakh penalty on 21 September 2026 after an offsite inspection, linked to a disaster-recovery drill according to the file name of its letter; earlier BSE inspections ended with advice only.

NSE's file of actions taken after inspecting trading members, linked from its regulatory-actions page, lists 187 rows for Groww Invest Tech (formerly Nextbillion Technology) for inspection years 2021-22 to 2026-27. Most are advice (113), cautions (25) or warnings (14). Twenty-eight are fines, netting ₹14.7 lakh, and none is larger than ₹2 lakh. Most rows come from offsite inspections; the file gives no dates or reasons, and NSE notes that the amounts may vary pending appeals. These are exchange inspection actions, not SEBI orders.

How to keep your Groww account safe

1. Check the monthly consolidated account statement from NSDL or CDSL; it shows your holdings independently of Groww.
2. In the app, review "Active Devices" and log out any device you do not recognise.
3. Approve pledges and sales only after reading the depository OTP message; a request you did not start is a warning sign.
4. Install Groww Lite or know your broker's phone dealing number before you hold open derivatives or MTF positions.
5. Use the voluntary account freeze in the app if you suspect someone else has access.

Compared with Zerodha and Angel One, the structure of protection is identical; what differs is each firm's record.

How we scored it

Financial strength (84) and regulation (82) are Groww's strongest factors: a profitable listed group under SEBI and exchange inspection. Investor protection (76) reflects strong segregation of shares and cash but a modest compensation fund and no excess cover. Conduct (72) and account security (72) are held back by the 2024 outage findings and the settled inspection case.