Groww, Zerodha open US stock investing to Indians: What it means for retail investors | The risks and rewards explained

Major Indian online investment platforms are opening up access to US stocks for millions of retail investors seeking to diversify into global assets as Indian markets continue to underperform.

Groww, which accounts for more than 29% of India’s 46 million active investors across stock brokerages, rolled out US equity trading earlier this month. The platform offers access to more than 10,000 US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), along with fractional share ownership, chief operating officer and co-founder Harsh Jain told CNBC.

Nvidia, SpaceX, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Micron and Meta are among the most popular companies with early users, Jain said.

Zerodha, India’s second-largest trading platform with a 15% share of active clients, has started beta testing access to US stocks and plans to launch the feature in a few weeks, the company told CNBC. Angel One, which has 6.7 million active retail clients, is also reportedly planning to introduce US stock trading.

zerodha

“There has always been latent demand in India for investing in global companies,” Somnath Mukherjee, vice president of corporate development at Zerodha, told CNBC.

The underperformance of Indian markets, the absence of major domestic artificial intelligence companies and the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar are driving interest in overseas investments, Mukherjee said.

India’s benchmark Nifty 50 has fallen nearly 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P 500 has gained more than 12%. Foreign investors have withdrawn a record $32.5 billion from direct equities since January, according to data from Indian depository NSDL.

“There is a ‘big interest’ among Indians to invest in US stocks, especially in tech companies,” Nitin Jain, chief executive and director at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Singapore, told CNBC.

He added that “retail investors like whatever goes up,” pointing to the frenzy among Indian investors for cryptocurrencies a few years ago.

Investing overseas offers Indians exposure to global companies and another currency. Mukherjee said the rupee’s depreciation was prompting investors “to keep a part of their portfolio in another currency.”

However, rising overseas investments could add to currency pressures when the rupee is weak and US markets are performing strongly.

“The worry is that they rise exactly when the rupee is weak, and US markets look strong, and thereby ‘amplify pressure at the worst moment’,” Tanvi Kanchan, associate director and head of international business and strategy at Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers, said.

gr

Resident Indians sent more than $321 million overseas for equity and debt investments in August, up 111% from a year earlier. Investment accounted for 11.7% of total outward remittances, compared with 5.8% a year ago.

As participation grows, Kotak’s Jain cautioned, Indian regulators could have “second thoughts” about allowing retail investors access to US markets.

Sanchari Ghosh is an Assistant Editor at Mint with over 12 years of experience in journalism, specialising in personal finance, DLT & DeFi, geopolitics and foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on how these areas intersect. <br> She writes extensively about how money works in everyday life—helping readers navigate personal finance decisions. <br> As AI reshapes investing behaviour, capital is increasingly flowing into decentralized ecosystems, redefining how assets are managed, traded, and valued. She focuses on explaining how money flows within frameworks like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), DeFi protocols, and crypto markets—while also exploring what the future of money could look like in a trustless, programmable financial world. <br> She also focuses on immigration-related issues, simplifying complex topics around visas, passports, overseas financial planning, and the many practical challenges Indians face while moving or living abroad. <br> Alongside personal finance, Sanchari has a strong understanding of international politics, contemporary and historical conflicts, and global state decisions. She closely tracks how geopolitical developments influence economies, markets, and individual financial choices, bringing together finance and global affairs in her reporting. <br> She began her career as a desk editor, which gave her a strong foundation in news writing. Over time, her interest naturally shifted toward personal finance. Before joining Mint in 2020, she worked DNA, The Times of India, Outlook Money, BloombergQuint, and ETMoney. At Mint, she got an opportunity to expand her coverage to include immigration and geopolitical developments while continuing to closely follow personal finance trends and market movements.As a journalist, she is committed to accuracy, intellectual rigour, and fairness. <br> She is an English Major and her work took her across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Living independently from an early age gave her firsthand experience in managing life and money on her own. This practical exposure sparked her strong interest in personal finance. <br> Outside the newsroom, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast who regularly plays lawn tennis and squash. In her younger years, she was also a national-level badminton player.

Get Latest real-time updates

Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events, JIO IPO Listing Today LIVE and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

HomeMarketsGroww, Zerodha open US stock investing to Indians: What it means for retail investors | The risks and rewards explained

✕

Wait for it…

Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.