From Brokers to Apps: A Bibliometric and Thematic Review of Retail Investor Adoption and Satisfaction with Online Investment Platforms in India

Abstract

Retail investing in India has shifted from branch offices and telephone dealing desks to smartphone applications in less than a decade. Demat accounts passed 21 crore by the end of 2025, and discount and app-based brokers now serve most active clients on the National Stock Exchange. This narrative review examines what existing research says about why Indian retail investors adopt online investment platforms and what shapes their satisfaction and continued use. Drawing on peer-reviewed studies, regulatory reports, and industry disclosures published mainly between 2016 and 2026, the review organises the literature into four themes: technology acceptance and adoption drivers; trust, risk, and security; service quality, satisfaction, and continuance; and behavioural biases, platform design, and investor protection. Four cases (Zerodha, Groww, SEBI's derivatives reforms and the Robinhood enforcement action in the United States) illustrate how platform design and regulation interact. The review finds that adoption research is mature but concentrated on intention rather than actual behaviour, that satisfaction is rarely linked to investment outcomes, and that evidence on non-metro, older and women investors remains thin. Implications for platforms, regulators and educators are discussed, and a research agenda is proposed.