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Groww has prioritised user experience over immediate profitability, CEO Lalit Keshre revealed, explaining why the brokerage’s revenues lag behind industry leader Zerodha, despite its user base surging ahead.

“When we started, year one, zero revenue; year two, zero revenue; year three, zero revenue; year four, zero revenue,” Keshre recounted in a chat with YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma at TechSparks 2024.

He explained that this was not a result of failure, but a deliberate strategy. “There’s something called delayed monetisation… we are not building a company for today or next year… it’s a multi-decade journey.”

Keshre’s primary focus is on creating a high-quality user experience rather than obsessing over financial metrics. “Most of my team track customer experience… how is the transparency going? What is the responsibility? What is our NPS?” he explained.

Keshre said he believes that by building trust and delivering a great product, Groww will see long-term gains.

“I don’t know how I will make money, but you know what? I think people will stay with us for 40-50 years, and they will bring others,” he emphasised, adding that his vision centres on creating a platform where customers stay loyal and bring in more users, reducing customer acquisition costs and increasing retention over time.

Keshre noted that user experience goes far beyond the visible interface. He explained that most crucial improvements happen behind the scenes, in backend systems that affect speed and efficiency, citing examples like order processing and search functionality.

He also highlighted that Groww has iterated its onboarding process 25 or 26 times, primarily through backend refinements that users don’t directly see but significantly impact their experience.

Yesterday, Groww’s closest rival Zerodha’s co-founder Nithin Kamath said that Zerodha’s profits have hit the $1 billion mark in FY24 with a profit margin of over 56%. The brokerage platform posted a revenue of Rs 8,320 crore and a profit of Rs 4,700 crore, excluding an unrealised gain of Rs 1,000 crore.

While, Groww’s FY24 numbers are not yet available, it turned profitable in FY23. The company reported a net profit of Rs 448.7 crore in FY23 against a net loss of Rs 239 crore in the previous fiscal.