Discount broker Groww has nudged past Zerodha to become the country’s largest broker in terms of number of active investors.

Groww had 66.28 lakh active investors at the end of September, with a 19.9 per cent market share. Zerodha had 64.79 lakh investors, with a 19.4 per cent market share in the same period. Groww added 3.93 lakh clients in September versus 1.21 lakh clients added by Zerodha.

The other three brokers in the top five in September include Angel One, Upstox and ICICI Securities with 48.56 lakh, 21.93 lakh and 19.12 lakh active investors, respectively.

Zerodha had 63.92 clients at the end of FY23, with a 19.6 per cent market share. Groww had 53.73 lakh clients with a market share of 16.5 per cent.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a tipping point for digital brokers, with nearly 70 per cent of the current client base being added after the outbreak. Twenty- and thirty-something investors with a do-it-yourself bent of mind have signed up in droves because of the simplicity of the online trading platforms, flat-fee structures and quicker account opening process.

Zerodha, Upstox, Angel One (formerly Angel Broking), 5paisa and Groww have chalked up a market share of over 50 per cent at the end of July 2021. The market share of top five discount brokers had stood at 17 per cent at the end of FY19.

A few years ago, brokers such as Zerodha had disrupted the industry with their discounting model, which remains a mainstay of digital brokers to this day. Most digital brokers charge a flat fee of ₹20 for intraday and F&O trades. Traditional brokers, however, have slashed brokerage too, and are also focussing on acquiring customers digitally, which is why pricing is no longer a key differentiator.