With more and more people investing in the Indian Stock Markets, many brokerage firms are coming to tap this opportunity.
In such situations, Groww seems to have become a popular investing platform for the masses. If you are confused about whether you should use it or any other platform, then check out my review for Groww.
Be it the list of features or the fees involved in the app, I tried everything out on the platform, and here is my take on it.
What Is Groww?
Groww is a stock broking platform where users can easily buy stocks, Mutual Funds, Gold, and even participate in US Stocks. It also allows you to take part in the primary markets, i.e., IPOs.
Groww is the brand name for Nextbillion Technology Private Limited, a SEBI registered Stockbroker and a member of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE).
It is an online stockbroking platform and does not give tips or recommendations. However, you can learn about the stock markets, investing, and much more through the E-books and videos on the platform.
Features Of Groww App
With the Groww app, you can buy stocks, make personalized watch lists invest in monthly SIPs, and much more. Let’s have a look at all these features in detail.
1. Impressive Dashboard
The dashboard of the app lets y ou navigate all your investments, current prices, and the best and worst-performing assets of the day. You can simply toggle the screen and know everything you want.
2. Multiple Assets
From stocks, Mutual Funds, and FDs to IPOs, Digital Gold, and ETFs, Groww brings to you multiple investing instruments. It also gives the Futures & Options option for the traders. You can easily make one-tap investments in all of these assets.
3. Complete Information Of Assets
With Groww, you can relax for your research part of any asset. It gives you detailed information about the company.
You can clearly monitor the charts of the assets to get an idea about the price movement. It even offers you the complete performance history of the asset.
You can read the current news about the company and its upcoming events. All this information highly influences the prices of the stock and hence, you must know about them.
4. One-Click Order Placement
Groww lets you make hassle-free payments and investments with the comfort of your fingertips. It allows the users to place orders with a single click by simply selecting the stock and clicking “Buy”.
5. Smartsave
It’s a relatively newer feature introduced by Groww that lets you keep your money while earning higher returns than a savings bank account. It keeps your money in the ICICI Prudential Liquid Fund, which helps in maximizing your interest and minimization risk.
The users have both the option of investing in a lump sum or choosing a monthly SIP.
6. Customized Watchlists
With Groww, you get to make your own watchlists. You can separate your long-term investments and short-term investments through this, or use it as you like. This lets you classify different assets and gives you the bigger picture in more detail.
7. Cancel/ Stop An Ongoing SIP
Groww offers a lot more flexibility and authority to its customers as compared to the traditional sources of investment. It easily enables the users to cancel, stop an ongoing SIP, or shift to another if the consumer saw fit.
Hence, investors can invest whenever they want to, for whatever duration they want to, and for the minimum starting amount of merely ₹500.
8. Portfolio Insight And Management
A portfolio is a collection or basket of either the same or a diversified kind of securities in which someone has intended to place their investments.
Having a portfolio causes one to distribute the risk among multiple sets of securities, leading to a higher return on the capital. Groww lets you create and manage your portfolio to keep a track of the various set of securities you have.
The Different Investing Instruments Of Groww
There are various types of investment options that come with the Groww app. It not only allows you to invest in them but also gives a very smooth and easy-to-use interface that makes it beginner-friendly.
Let’s look at them in detail.
1. Stocks
The primary and the most popular investing instrument on the platform are the Stocks. Users can easily scroll down to the trending stocks.
You even get to screen the top gaining stocks, top losing stocks, and many other advanced filters on the app. It even allows you to see various lists of stocks organized on their sectors or by their market cap.
Overall, you can filter anything on the platform and then decide on the stocks you are most confident about.
2. Mutual funds
If you are not an active trader and someone who just likes to earn a stable income, Mutual Funds can be your favorite pick. Groww app lets you invest in Mutual Funds in minutes. You can easily search for your favorite M.F and it is highly possible that you’ll find it on the platform.
As you open the dashboard of Mutual Funds, you can easily filter your choice. Groww offers you the popular Mutual Funds and some of the handpicked options from the platform.
You can also opt for NFOs (New Fund Offerings) that let early investors participate in a fund. With various funds on the platform, you can even compare them and decide on your favorite one.
3. Fixed Deposits
Although Groww offers assets that are highly risky, it also offers safer investment options to its users.
You can invest in safe and secured high-interest paying Fixed Deposits. Groww promises that there are no hidden charges on these investments, and you can get your FDs from multiple bank accounts.
The senior citizens are even offered an additional 0.5% extra interest rate on all the bank FDs.
4. US Stocks
This is the highlight of the Groww app. You can easily invest in US stocks with the comfort of your same account. If you have always wanted to invest in Microsoft, Apple, or Tesla, Groww is here for you. Easily invest in any of the U.S. stocks through the platform.
Your account gets activated without any additional charges for investing in US stocks. There is no brokerage involved in any of the trades you take in the U.S. stock market. You can easily invest in fractions in these companies.
When you invest in any of the U.S. stocks through Groww, your account is kept with ViewTrade. It is an SEC-registered and FINRA-regulated broker for records and books. ViewTrade works with Apex Clearing Corporation to trade the clearing and custodian aspects of accounts of the users.
Another benefit that you get by investing in U.S. stocks through Groww is that you get an instant $10 free.
5. IPO (Initial Public Offering)
Gone are those times when you used to regret that you did not invest in an IPO, and now it turned into a massive stock. With Groww, you get to invest in the IPOs going live in the Indian markets. Easily navigate the different IPOs, read all the IPO documentation, and make your investments.
You also get to read all the strengths and weaknesses of an IPO derived from Groww’s platform. Check out their finances and all the other historical data before investing your money in them.
6. ETFs
One of the most popular safe investments apart from Mutual Funds, you can even buy ETFs through Groww.
An ETF is a basket of securities that are clubbed together. It comprises the features of stocks, bonds, and Mutual Funds. You can trade these securities throughout the day just like stocks.
There are tons of ETFs that are live on Groww’s platform. You can easily screen them and invest in your favorite ETF.
7. Futures & Options
If you are an active trader who likes to trade in Futures & Options, then this can be your favorite feature of the app.
Groww offers you the services of Futures & Options where you can easily trade-in during market hours just like any other brokerage platform.
8. SIPs
If you are a fan of investing in SIPs, then Groww will not disappoint you. Easily invest in funds through Monthly SIPs.
Set your SIP amount and the date, and Groww will automatically invest your funds in the investing instruments on the mentioned dates. It is a very smooth process and offers complete support.
9. Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs)
This is something out of the box from the team of Groww. It offers different assets like Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) to its users. With this feature, you can directly invest in this asset through the app.
These bonds offer 2.5% annual interest, which is paid every six months. What makes these bonds safe and secure is that they are backed by the Government and attract zero capital gain tax on maturity.
It is a very good investment option if you want to play it safe with your money.
Groww’s Brokerage Plans
Unlike other brokerage firms, where the users have to pay an AMC (Average Monthly Charge), Groww charges nothing from its users. Let’s talk about the brokerage charges for the transactions on the app.
The brokerage charged by these broking apps is often very low and does not account for much. However, when you are buying and selling your assets more frequently, it becomes very crucial to monitor these charges.
Groww follows a rigid and fixed model on their brokerage plans. It charges a flat fee of Rs.20 if the user is participating in buying Equity, Intraday Transactions, and Futures & Options trades. This amount is also the maximum Groww charges per order across its various trading sections.
In Equity Delivery, Groww charges brokerage on two models. Either it charges Rs.20 per order or 0.05% of the trade, whichever is lower. This model is also followed during Intraday trades.
If you are doing Futures & Options, then you must pay a flat charge of Rs.20 per order. Apart from this, you also have to pay other regulatory charges and Demat charges.
In the case of automatic square-off, you are charged Rs.50 per order.
How To Buy On Groww?
1. Log in to your Groww account and verify your account with KYC.
2. Search for the stock you want to buy
3. Analyze the price chart in various Time Frames. You can even use various tools and features on the chart to get multiple confirmations.
4. Select the market (NSE/BSE) and the price structure. Limit price lets you set the price at which you wish to buy the stock. Market price buys the stock for you at the current Market price. Generally, the Market price is very quick as it has no-waiting time.
5. If you want to add more funds, you can do it easily through the platform.
6. Use your UPI, Net Banking, or Bank Transfer to make the payment.
7. As soon as you do this, you will be able to buy the stock.
8. Note, that you won’t be able to buy or sell anything in the market if the market is closed due to holidays, or it is past the market time(9:15 A.M- 3:30 P.M)
The Good:
- Secure trading with modern encryption techniques
- A holistic investment application, i.e., provides investment opportunities in small-cap, mid-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap for long-term investment and higher returns or invest in balanced funds, gold funds, international funds, etc.
- Faster trading on account with one tap order placement
- User-friendly interface with clean design
- No separate login for mutual funds investment
- Allows the users to explore even fixed deposit options and compare them with different banks.
The Bad:
- Unavailability of IPO investment
- Lack of advanced order types like bracket order, cover market order, after-market orders, etc.
- Lack of scanners and backtesting
My Take
After reviewing Groww, I can say that if you are a beginner in the stock markets, and investing, then you should definitely try it out. With the super-friendly user interface, the app lets you make investments seamlessly.
However, if you are an experienced trader who likes to play with the price charts, then you are in for a little disappointment as the app has very limited tools and features.
Overall, Groww is a simple and very easy-to-use beginner platform for investing and trading. People who just want to invest in SIPs, or stocks occasionally, will love this app because of its simplicity.
If you’ve questions regarding Groww, please let me know in the comments.
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