Farmer’s son from a remote MP village cracked IIT Bombay, earned a dual degree, now has Rs 10,000 crore net worth and runs Bengaluru-based Groww

He belongs from a small village in Madhya Pradesh and today, is one of India’s most prominent fintech companies- Lalit Keshre’s journey is anything but ordinary. The Groww co-founder and CEO grew up in a farming family, lived with his grandparents and studied at the only English-medium school in his district before securing admission to IIT Bombay. Today, he is a billionaire entrepreneur at the helm of Bengaluru-based Groww. Forbes currently puts Keshre’s real-time net worth at $1.2 billion, while his Groww stake has been valued at over Rs 9,000 crore.

From a farming family in Madhya Pradesh to IIT Bombay

Keshre was born into a farming family in Lepa, a remote village in Madhya Pradesh. According to Forbes, he grew up in the village and later went on to graduate from IIT Bombay. In a conversation with Moneycontrol’s Chandra R Srikanth at the Groww office in Bengaluru, Keshre spoke about his modest beginnings. His father is a farmer in Lepa, and his parents continue to live there.

Keshre also revealed that he lived with his grandparents and studied at the only English-medium school in Khargone district. After completing Class 12, he learned about the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and eventually secured a seat at IIT Bombay.

He earned a dual degree from IIT Bombay

Keshre went on to complete a Dual Degree in Electrical Engineering, earning his B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Bombay in 2004. His education eventually took him into the technology and startup ecosystem, where he began his professional career at Flipkart. Keshre joined Flipkart as an early product manager and worked on the company's marketplace. He later became involved in Flipkart Quick and other consumer-focused technology products.

Before founding Groww, he held a senior product management role at Flipkart. He also co-founded an online learning company in 2011. In 2016, Keshre and three former colleagues, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal and Neeraj Singh, left to build Groww. The company initially began as a mutual fund investment platform before expanding into stocks, ETFs, IPOs, derivatives, credit and other financial products.

Groww's success and Lalit Keshre's networth

Groww offers users access to a broad range of financial products, including stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, IPOs, US stocks, futures and options, fixed deposits and gold. Forbes currently lists Keshre's real-time net worth at $1.1 billion, placing him among the world's billionaires.