New Delhi: India’s largest retail broker by active clients Zerodha has opened up the doors for its customers to Wall Street. The company has initiated the rollout of US stock investment in beta mode for a “small number of users” in beta and is now allowing eligible Indian investors to trade in STOCKS AND ETFs on the AMBest US Exchange on its Kite platform.
The launch marks the end of a few years’ wait. Zerodha had initially started looking at investing in US stocks in 2020 but discontinued the plan due to Covid-19 developments and the complexities associated with remittance flows under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) issued by RBI. A product was in the works, though, and in October 2025, CEO Nithin Kamath revived the concept, stating that there was a product coming. As recently as April of this year, Zerodha’s own support stated that it would be hard to give an exact time frame.
What is on offer
There is an approximately 2,000 list of US stocks, and around 1,000 ETFs, with fractional trading beginning at USD 1. This service includes delivery based investment, fractional shares and SIPs for eligible stocks in the United States. This means that a trader could invest a small portion of the price of a high price share, even though that is a high-priced share by itself.
The trades are processed in BSE’s India INX Global Access and the underlying securities are not meant to be held in a demat account in India, but instead held through a US brokerage partner. BusinessToday has not been able to get the name of that partner from the official sources and Zerodha’s published guide does not mention it.
What it costs
Two charges matter. The brokerage is up to $10 per trade and is not less than $ 0.01 from the trade amount. The cap is for those who are placing large orders. The second cost is currency conversion with Zerodha forex markup is 0.5%. If investors make small, regular investments, this type of markup is likely to cost them more than the brokerage charges, so it’s important to them to consider total expense.
How to get started
The beta is being enabled in phases. Users who already have an account click, via the account details page, “Enable US stocks.” No other documentation is required. With accounts being activated in batches, users queue up and get a notification when their account is up. The complete rollout will take place after it fine tunes the product with beta feedback, according to Zerodha.
The limits
Parents who rely on the bells and whistles of a typical stock brokerage will have to find another way to get them. There are a number of trading techniques that are not allowed for resident Indians investing under LRS – options, futures, short selling and margin or leverage trading. The platform isn’t available for users to make an investment in an upcoming U.S. initial public offering (IPO). The trades are executed and settle one business day (T+1) later, and currently Kite’s market depth view has no bid/ask levels.
Ultimately, investors need to be mindful of the fact that stock prices are not the only risks in U.S. stocks. The capital gains on these are linked to the ups and downs of the rupee-dollar exchange rate, and the stocks are held abroad. Putting money into foreign assets will be reported on Indian tax returns, and investors might want to consult with a tax preparer before they begin investing. The beta is new, so it is advisable to start with smaller quantities too.
A crowded field
Forex is a field in which Zerodha is lagging behind. Groww is following the footsteps of several other platforms like INDmoney and HDFC Securities and has started providing US investing. The launch comes after the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), in June, had granted permissions to Zerodha, Groww, Upstox and Angel One to facilitate all-inclusive international investments through GIFT City.
The timing is business-logic. Zerodha reported its first dip in revenue and profit in more than a decade as regulatory pressure in derivatives segment negatively impacted its FY25 numbers, where segment revenue and Net Profit dipped by nearly 15%. With the inclusion of a new product line, the company has another source of income. It will likely have an advantage over rivals given its big user base and low-cost reputation, but it has a long way to go.
The bottom line
For Indians seeking the benefit of diversification across the globe, Zerodha’s team has given Indian investors a US investing app they are already familiar with. Apart from the forex mark-up, the pricing is very transparent and inexpensive; and the cap on brokerage fee is an upside. The product is still in beta, however, as well as the access queue and the unnamed US partner, and the lack of derivatives and IPOs, it is a starting point, rather than an offering. Investors need to keep an eye on the performance of the service as it becomes available to everyone and then calculate the overall costs and compare against other services.
