India – 22/07/2026: In this illustrated photo, the Spacex logo is displayed on a smartphone with the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) logo in the background.
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As Indian markets continue to underperform, India’s leading online investment platform is opening up access to US stocks to millions of retail investors eager to diversify into global assets.
Previously, access to U.S. markets and exchange-traded funds was limited to wealthy Indians through global banks and asset management companies.
Indian investment platform Groww, which accounts for more than 29% of the country’s 46 million active investors, introduced U.S. stock trading capabilities earlier this month, Harsh Jain, the company’s chief operating officer and co-founder, told CNBC.
Nvidia, space x, apple, alphabet, Amazon, micron and meta The company is the most popular among early users, and the company has provided access to more than 10,000 U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds and fractional ownership interests, Jain said.
Zerodha, the second-largest trading platform with a 15% share of active customers, according to NSE data, has also begun beta testing access to US stocks and plans to launch the service in the coming weeks, the company told CNBC.
Angel One, another popular brokerage with 6.7 million active retail customers, also reportedly plans to start trading U.S. stocks on its platform.
Nitin Jain, chief executive officer and director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Singapore, told CNBC that there is “huge interest” among Indians in investing in US stocks, particularly in tech companies. He noted that Indian investors were excited about investing in cryptocurrencies a few years ago, adding: “Retail investors like anything that goes up.”
US stocks in demand
“There’s always been a pent-up demand in India to invest in global companies,” Somnath Mukherjee, Zerodha’s vice president of corporate development, told CNBC.
He said the slump in the Indian stock market over the past few years and the lack of local artificial intelligence champions are driving up demand for U.S. products. Mukherjee said the weakening of the Indian rupee against the dollar was also encouraging investors to “maintain a portion of their portfolio in another currency.”
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 stock index has fallen nearly 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P 500 has risen more than 12%. Foreign investors are fleeing the country’s markets, weighing on the stock market with direct outflows into equities at a record $32.5 billion since January, according to data from India’s deposit exchange NSDL.
Experts say investors chose markets such as South Korea and Taiwan over India because of the lack of large AI companies and relatively expensive valuations.
Resident Indians sent more than $321 million abroad for investment in stocks and bonds in August, an increase of 111% year-on-year, according to data from India’s central bank. In the year ended March 2026, external remittances for investments in equity and debt amounted to $2.6 billion.
While retail outflows represent a small portion of India’s foreign exchange reserves, the concern is that outflows increase just when the rupee is weak and the U.S. market looks strong, thereby “amplifying pressure at the worst possible moment,” said Tanvi Kanchan, associate director and head of international business and strategy at Anand Rati Shares & Stock Brokers.
Kanchan said investment now accounts for about 11.7% of total remittances, up from 5.8% a year ago, with Indians shifting from spending abroad to investing overseas.
The withdrawal of foreign investors and soaring energy prices due to the Iran war have already taken a toll on India’s currency, making it natural for the central bank to intervene. Kotak’s Jain warned that Indian regulators may have “second thoughts” about allowing retail access to the U.S. market as participation increases.
