India’s top online brokerages-Groww, Zerodha, and Angel One-are shedding active users for the first time in years, as regulatory heat on futures and options (F&O) trading cools the retail investing boom that once powered their meteoric rise.
According to the latest NSE data, Bengaluru-based Groww saw its active client base drop from 13 million in February to 12.07 million in August-a sharp reversal for the platform that became India’s largest broker in 2023.
Zerodha, which once dominated the space, also lost ground, slipping from 7.95 million to 7.26 million in the same period. Angel One followed suit, with a decline from 7.64 million to 7.04 million.
In contrast, smaller and newer players are gaining momentum. Paytm Money grew to 758,335 active clients, and PhonePe, which entered broking just a year ago, nearly doubled its user base to 305,319, signaling growing user appetite for integrated financial platforms.
The downturn comes amid a regulatory crackdown on F&O trading, the high-risk, high-reward segment that drew millions of first-time investors during and after the COVID-19 lockdowns. New rules around lot sizes, upfront margins, and transaction costs have dampened retail enthusiasm, especially among younger traders.
These structural shifts are not just denting trading volumes-they’re also eroding the user bases of the very platforms that thrived during India’s retail trading revolution.
As competition intensifies and compliance costs rise, online brokerages may be forced to reinvent their business models beyond F&O dependency, especially with India’s fintech ecosystem drawing deep-pocketed entrants like PhonePe and Paytm into the ring.