Groww Stock Investing & Mutual Fund App Review — Is It Safe?

“Investing should be as simple as shopping online,” says Harsh Jain, who co-founded Groww, India’s fastest growing investment platform, with former Flipkart colleagues Lalit Keshre, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal in 2017.

I’ve been using Groww since April 2020 and I’ve seen it evolve over the years.

This is my review of the Groww App from the perspective of an investing novice. This is a guide from a normal user to a normal user. Please consult your financial advisor before making any financial decisions.

Groww App has four main verticals for investing:

• Mutual Funds
• Stocks
• FD
• Loans (New)

Company Type	Private
Broker Type	Discount Broker
Headquarters	Bangalore, India
Founder	Lalit Keshre
Established Year	2016

Groww Products

Equity Trading	Yes
Commodity Trading	Yes
Currency Trading	Yes
Options	Yes
Futures	Yes
Mutual Funds	Yes
Forex	No
Banking	No
SIP	No
Insurance	No

Groww Mutual Funds

Mutual Funds have now become synonymous with investing for the common man. But the one thing that hasn’t been discussed enough is the medium you use you invest in Mutual Funds. I’ve recently started investing in mutual funds. I used the Groww App to make one of my first investments. Thus, I’m reviewing the Groww App and some of its competitors and helping you make the right choice for your investing app.

The popularity of mutual funds can be attributed to several factors including awareness campaigns like ‘Mutual Funds Sahi Hai.’

Today, Mutual Funds is the go-to way to get the most out of your money without lifting a finger.

My Father, like any other bread-earner, has most of his savings invested in mutual funds. Understanding the benefits of investing regularly in mutual funds, people are exploring and looking out for the best platforms and advisers to invest in mutual funds.

Groww is a platform that helps you track your portfolio and invest in more than 3000 mutual funds from a single place. In this post, let us explore Groww Mutual Fund Investing App and answer some of the common queries that you may have in your mind.

Groww Stocks

I had been using 5paisa for my stocks purchases and Groww for mutual funds. Since Groww came up with the stock trading feature, I decided to give it a try and I never looked back.

The best thing about Groww’s Stock Delivery is that it’s free. For a small retail investor like me, even that “Rs. 20” charge is a lot for every buy position.

Groww also introduced the Stop Loss feature recently which makes it a full-fledged experience now.

How Does The Groww App Make Money?

Groww is vague in terms of its business model, although I’ve tried to gather some information for you.

Groww’s Pricing Section shows that they have zero fees for mutual funds investing. However, they make money with transaction charges from stock investments.

Groww also earns from their advisory services & add-on premium features that they offer to its users.

How Is Groww Compared To Other Apps?

Groww vs. Kuvera

Both Groww and Kuvera offer almost similar features.

Both are free to use platforms allowing investments in direct plans of mutual funds.

Personally, I find the user interface of Groww more intuitive than Kuvera. But that’s my personal opinion. I would recommend you to sign up on both the platforms, explore them and then select any platform based on your liking.

Groww vs. PayTM Money

Personally, I like the UI of PayTM Money more than Groww. It gives more intuitive charts and a bit more details than Groww. However, Groww has a better knowledgebase for clients than PayTM Money.

PayTM Money also helps assess your risk profile and make a financial plan with mutual funds.

Pricing & Commission Structure of Groww

Groww provides investment into direct mutual funds which do not offer any commission. Groww doesn’t levy any fees or commission to its users for using the platform. Groww does, however, charge for add on services like portfolio/investment advisory, premium features on the platform, etc.

Furthermore, Groww has a pricing structure as shown here.

Transaction Charges	0.00325% of Total Turnover
STT	0.025% of Total Turnover
SEBI Turnover Charges	0.00005% of Total Turnover
Stamp Duty	Depends on State (very minimal)
GST	18% of (Brokerage + Transaction Charges)

What are the charges for Groww stocks?

Depository Source	CDSL
Account Opening Charges	Free
Demat AMC Charges	Rs.300 per Annum
Trading AMC Charges	Free
Margin Money	Zero
Offline to Online	No

Brokerage Charge & Fees On	Charge Amount Details
Equity Delivery Trading	Zero
Equity Intraday Trading	Rs.20 per Order
Commodity Options Trading	N/A
Equity Futures Trading	Rs.20 per Order
Equity Options Trading	Rs.20 per Order
Currency Futures Trading	Rs.20 per Order
Currency Options Trading	Rs.20 per Order
Minimum Brokerage	Zero
Demat AMC Charges	Rs.300 per Annum
Trading AMC Charges	Free
Margin Money	Zero

Below is the list of charges as shown on Groww Pricing page.

Buy Stocks: ₹0 — No charges for buying stocks (any quantity)

Sell Stocks: 0.01% of order amount if intraday. DP charges applicable for Demat delivery

All Charges

Equity Delivery: Charged by broker on buy orders when equity is delivered in Demat account. It is Zero on Groww.

Equity Intraday: Charged by broker if you buy and sell on the same day. It will be charged Rs 20/- per executed order or 0.01% of order value whichever is lower.

Clearing Charges: Charged by clearing member of NSSCL (clearing corporation of NSE) and ICCL (clearing corporation of BSE). It is Zero on Groww.

AMC (Account maintenance charges): For managing your account. It is ₹25/month + GST charged quarterly. Will not be charged for dormant accounts.

Account Opening Charges: Charged one time for opening trading and Demat account. It will be ₹200 on Groww from May 1st, 2020 onwards. It is FREE till April 30th, 2020.

DP Charges (Buy Order): Charged by DP for crediting stocks to demat account. It is Zero on Groww.

DP Charges (Sell Order): Charged by DP for debiting stocks from Demat account. It is ₹8 + ₹ 5.50 (CDSL Charges) per ISIN (company/ETF) per day on Groww regardless of quantity sold.

Stamp Duty: Charged by the state government as stamp duty for contract note. It is different for each state but maximum is 0.018%.

SEBI Turnover Charges: Charged at 0.0001% by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for regulating the markets.

Payment Gateway Charges: Charges for depositing money in Groww Balance. It is zero as of now.

Securities Transaction Tax (STT): Charged by government when you transact on exchanges. It is 0.1% of order amount in case of equity delivery and 0.025% of order amount in case of equity intraday.

Other Charges

Demat/Remat: Rs. 150 per certification + courier charges | Failed Off-Market Demat Transactions: Rs. 50 per ISIN | Pledge/ Unpledge of Demat Secutires: Rs. 20 + Rs. 12 per request (CDSL Charges) | Pledge Invocation: Rs. 20 | Perodic/ Adhoc Demat Statement Request: Email: Free, Physical: Rs. 100 per request + Rs. 10 per page + courier charges | Account Modification Request: Rs. 50 | KRA Upload/ Download: Rs. 50 | Delivery Instruction Slip: First (10 leaves): Free | Addl (10 leaves): Rs. 100 + courier charges | Physical CMR(Client Master Report): Rs. 20 + Courier Charges | Physical Contract Note: Rs. 100 + Courier Charges | Courier Charges: Rs. 100 or actual whichever is higher.

Is Groww SEBI Registered?

Yes, Groww is a SEBI registered adviser in the name of Finvantage Investment Adviser Private Limited based out of Bangalore.

Their registration number is INA20008981. Here’s their Certification of Registration with SEBI & Certificate of Registration with AMFI & BSE.

Is Groww App Safe For Investing?

I’m glad you asked that question. I was sceptical about using any such service, not just Groww— especially since my father has relied on his financial manager all his life! Like any other consumer, I researched the Groww app’s business and security practices to learn more about their operations.

So, is the Groww App safe?

Yes, the Groww app is safe for mutual funds and investments. Groww is registered with SEBI and AMFI, which monitor and review all of its transactions. Every transaction on Groww is authorized by you.

Every investment made is notified to you and most importantly you keep 100% control of your money at all times.

Groww is relatively transparent and seamless and has raised $21.4Mn in series B funding in 2019 from US-based VC firm Ribbit Capital along with existing investors Sequoia India and Y Combinator.

Withdrawing your money from an investment is just as easy—and may even be easier—than investing in the first place.

Groww takes safety and security very seriously; they employ bank-grade security features on their platform and user data is fully protected.

What Can You Do With Groww?

Invest in any Fund (SIP and One-Time): Invest in any mutual fund of your choice from any AMC. You can do lump sum (one time) investment or just set up Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) in any fund wherein the fixed pre-decided amount would be directly debited from your liked bank account every month and invested in the subscribed mutual fund.

Add More Money in Existing Mutual Funds: If you are already investing in mutual funds, you can make your further investments in the same folios through the Groww App.

Redeem from any Fund with the Click of a Button: You can redeem your accumulated units of money from the Groww app itself at the click of a button.  The proceeds will be transferred to the bank account linked with the respective AMC.

Cancel/Stop an Ongoing SIP: Due to some financial or personal difficulties, you might want to cancel or stop your ongoing SIP’s in any mutual fund scheme. You can do so via the Groww platform.

Switch from Regular Funds to Direct Mutual Funds: If you had invested in Regular mutual funds earlier, knowingly or unknowingly and would like to switch to regular funds, you can do so via the Groww platform. You can find detailed steps for the same here. Do note that switching refers to selling units in your existing schemes and buying another scheme so it may be subject to taxes & exit loads, wherever applicable.

Groww Customer Care Number

You can get in touch with the Groww customer care team via the Contact Us Page or directly email them on support@groww.in

Groww also has a live chat option available on the platform using which you can have a chat live with their representative online.

You can reach them on 91088-00604. Keep in mind that this number was mentioned on their Facebook page (and not on the official website). They are also quite active on social networks like Facebook & Twitter.

The support team of Groww is quite helpful and will answer all your queries efficiently.

What if Groww Shuts Down?

Be it Groww or any other mutual fund app, they are just brokers or distributors for AMCs.

Groww is a broker that uses the BSE Star MF trading platform to facilitate transactions. It makes your investment in mutual funds directly with their respective AMCs. If Groww ever shuts down, you can continue your investments directly with the AMC.

If a broker goes out of business, you’ll have to do your own transactions or can simply use another app. Besides that, nothing changes about the investments themselves—they’re not dependent on any particular brokerage for functionality.

The brokers are just an intermediary. Your money is ultimately with the AMC, which has your name on them and cannot be touched or moved around in any way.

Conclusion: Groww App Review

Groww App’s philosophy of “Investing should be as simple as shopping online.” makes it a very easy-to-use and effortless solution to invest.

You can invest in a mutual fund of any AMC from the platform. Tracking your mutual fund portfolio under the same platform is intuitive and helps you track your portfolio and plan your financial goals.

The best thing about this service is that it’s free and your investments go directly into mutual funds, where no commission will be paid to agents or advisors—and that can save you money and earn better returns in the long run.

I highly recommend this app for mutual fund investors. It will save you the hassle of researching, tracking and monitoring your investments!

If you have already used the Groww app, do let us know your experience using the comment box below.