Withdraws a direction on grants (7)
I believe the answer is:
secedes
'withdraws' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a direction on grants' is the wordplay.
'a direction' becomes 'se' (SE is an example).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'grants' becomes 'cedes' ('cede' can be a synonym of 'grant').
'se'+'cedes'='SECEDES'
(Other definitions for secedes that I've seen before include "Withdraws from an organization" , "Breaks away" , "makes a withdrawal" .)