Bengaluru-based discount broker Groww has doubled its active investor base over the past year, touching almost 11 million users in June, according to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) data. The company had around 5.65 million users during the same period of the previous year.

Even as discount brokers brace for revenue impact due to the potential restrictions on futures and options (F & O) trading, the number of new demat accounts continues to grow rapidly.

In June, the number of demat accounts reached 160 million with a net addition of 4.2 million accounts. According to NSE data, the number of active investors is a little above 40 million.

Most of the top discount brokers also added sizeable new active investors, with Groww alone adding over 550,000 users during the month. Mumbai-based Angel One added 220,000 active investors, while Zerodha added 150,000 users.

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) from offering discounts based on trading volumes or activity of its members, which could threaten the revenue of the discount brokerage companies.

Despite discount brokers facing regulatory interventions on their trading operations, the reports highlight the sharp rise in newly opened demat accounts.

The total number of Demat accounts opened has touched 160 million with a net addition of 4.2 million accounts, in June, as per the report. According to NSE data, the overall number of active investors is a little above 40 million.

Groww stole Zerodha’s thunder with the highest active investor base, when it recorded 6.63 million active investors at the end of September 2023, against Zerodha’s 6.48 Million.

The report also revealed Angel One is also speeding up to pull in more users every month than Zerodha and is likely to surpass the latter soon.

It is noted that the user growth of traditional full-service brokers, largely backed by banks, has been shallow with the discount brokers’ upper hand over the last decade.

Despite the tough ground for traditional brokers, the report revealed, that SBICAP Securities, backed by the State Bank of India, has seen its active investors rise 64% to 9.2 Lakh in June, from 5.6 Lakh users, a year ago.