You use Apple, but do you OWN it?

Hey there! I’m back with an interesting piece today — something that a LOT of you asked for!

But let me start with one number first: India is 3.5% of global market cap. The US alone is 60%.

That means if you’re only investing in India, you’re skipping 96.5% of the world’s wealth creation opportunity. The iPhone in your hand, the Netflix show you binge-watched last weekend, the Google search you just ran — you’ve been using these companies every single day.

The question is, whether you’ve also been owning them.

So today, I’m going to be talking about investing in global markets. Think US, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others.

Hold on..before you rush to open an international brokerage account, let’s be honest about both sides.

But before that..

Now let’s begin..

Real diversification: Indian and US markets don’t always move together — when one falls, the other doesn’t necessarily follow. Owning both means no single country’s bad year has to wreck your portfolio. You’re diversifying well.

The rupee tailwind: Hstorically, the rupee has weakened against the dollar by about 3–4% per year over the last two decades. So even if your US investment delivers flat dollar returns, you’re still up in rupee terms. Most people don’t factor this in.

Access to sectors India doesn’t have: Semiconductors, AI infrastructure, biotech, aerospace — none of this exists meaningfully on NSE or BSE. These are entire industries that Indian-only investors simply can’t touch.

Fractional investing: This one’s interesting — In the US, you can buy a fraction of a share for as little as $1. Want a slice of a $200 Amazon share without buying the whole thing? You can. This isn’t available in India yet.

Currency risk cuts both ways: While the possibility seems low, it is a possibility. Here’s a concrete example: invest ₹4 lakhs when $1 = ₹75, and you get $5,333 worth of stocks. They gain 10% in dollar terms. But if the rupee strengthens to ₹65 per dollar, your investment is now worth just ₹3.8 lakhs — a loss in rupee terms despite positive dollar returns. The tailwind can reverse.

Regulatory and political risk is real: Trump’s tariff announcements in early April 2025 triggered one of the sharpest single-day market crashes since COVID — the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and NASDAQ all took a severe hit. Markets have recovered since, but as long as Mr. Trump is in office, my take is that volatility will stay elevated. It’s simple, really — when you invest in the US, you’re exposed to US politics too.

Taxation: The tax situation is also more complex than you’d expect — more on this later.

If you want to invest in US markets though, here’s how to do it:

Direct platforms: Apps like INDmoney, Vested Finance, and Fi Money let you invest in US stocks directly, with fractional investing, zero brokerage on most trades, and they handle compliance and currency conversion for you. The easiest starting point for most retail investors.

By the way, we’re doing a webinar with Vested for this for our community. You can register for it by clicking on the image below.

Indian mutual funds: Buy in rupees through your usual app, no foreign paperwork. But you’re stuck with slab-rate taxation, and SEBI’s overseas investment cap can force some funds to pause fresh investments.

GIFT City: Gujarat’s offshore financial hub operates outside SEBI’s overseas investment cap. Two routes: India INX (BSE’s subsidiary, connects you to US brokers) and NSE-IX UDRs (depository receipts held via a custodian at GIFT City). Still maturing, but worth watching :)

For direct US stock investments, gains are split by holding period. Hold for more than 2 years and you pay 12.5% LTCG — but unlike Indian equities, there’s no ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption; Section 112A simply doesn’t apply to foreign-listed stocks. Hold for under 2 years and gains are taxed at your income slab rate.

Dividends are taxed twice — a 25% withholding tax is deducted by the US company upfront, and in India the dividend is added to your income and taxed at your slab rate. The saving grace: the India-US DTAA lets you claim a Foreign Tax Credit for the US tax already paid, by filing Form 67 before your ITR due date.

For international mutual fund FoFs, it’s simpler but harsher — all gains are taxed at your income slab rate, regardless of how long you hold.

Global investing is a tool, not a silver bullet. A 20–30% international allocation makes sense if you have a long horizon and can handle the complexity. If you’re early in your journey, building a strong Indian portfolio first is perfectly valid.

The worst outcome isn’t missing global markets — it’s investing in them without understanding the risks and panicking at the first drawdown.

1. Sign up for the Global Investing webinar

2. Subscribe to my AI newsletter

3. Share this article with friends who are considering US investments

And I’ll see you next week..

Cheers,

Ankur