Transparent single crystals of glycine phosphite were grown by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (SR) method and conventional slow evaporation solution technique (SEST) which had the sizes of 100 mm in length, 30 mm diameter and 10 x 11 x 8 mm(3). The conventional slow evaporation and Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy method grown glycine phosphite single crystals were characterized using laser damage threshold, chemical etching, Vickers microhardness, UV-vis-NIR and dielectric analysis. The laser damage threshold value was higher in SR method grown GPI crystal as against conventional method grown crystal. The SR method grown GPI has higher hardness and also higher transmittance compared to conventional method grown crystal. The chemical etching and dielectric loss measurements indicate that the crystal grown by SR method has low density of defects and low value of dielectric loss compared to conventional method grown GPI crystal. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.