The company paid a one-time tax of Rs 1,340 crore related to its relocation of its registered headquarters to India earlier this year from the US. After accounting for the tax, Groww posted a net loss of Rs 805 crore.
Operational profit rose to Rs 535 crore from Rs 458 crore in FY23, according to the company.
Groww relocated its domicile to India earlier this year, joining the wave of Indian startups engaging in “reverse-flipping” to capitalise on the country’s evolving startup ecosystem. However, the process of shifting domicile can be costly, as companies are required to pay substantial taxes to the Indian government.
For instance, fintech firm PhonePe’s investors had to pay Rs 8,000 crore in taxes when the company shifted its domicile from Singapore to India in 2022. Similarly, payments processing firm Razorpay is estimated to face a tax outgo of up to $200 million once its restructuring to relocate from the US to India is complete, as reported by ET in May.
A key motivation for fintech firms to relocate their domicile is to align with India’s regulatory framework, as local financial regulators prefer companies and their subsidiaries to be based within the country. Additionally, the prospect of an initial public offering (IPO) plays a crucial role in this move.
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Further, revenue from Groww’s core broking business more than doubled in FY24 to Rs 2,899 crore from Rs 1,294 crore in FY23, as previously reported by ET.Founded in 2016 in Bengaluru as a mutual fund investment platform, Groww expanded into stock trading in 2020. Last year, it further diversified into consumer lending, payments and asset management through subsidiaries.
On September 26, ET reported that discount brokers like Groww were increasingly entering the business of providing margin-trading facilities, seeking to diversify their revenue channels, especially with regulatory scrutiny impacting the core revenue-generating business of futures and options trading.
Groww’s main competitor, Zerodha, recorded a net profit of Rs 4,700 crore on revenues of Rs 8,320 crore for FY24, according to chief executive Nithin Kamath.
In September 2023, Groww overtook Zerodha as the largest broking platform in India with 6.63 million active investors compared to the rival’s 6.48 million. By May 2024, Groww’s active client base surpassed 10 million, making it the first discount broker in India to reach this milestone.
