Zerodha opens US stock trading to Indian investors, in beta

A discount broker has opened a door that Indian investors have wanted open for a while. Zerodha has switched on US stock investing in beta on Kite, its trading app. An investor with a linked Indian bank account can fund a dollar-denominated wallet through netbanking and buy a slice of a share for $1. The service offers access to up to 2,000 US-listed companies and around 1,000 ETFs.

The technology behind it is a chain of arrangements. In June, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), the regulator of India's financial hub at GIFT City in Gujarat, approved brokers to offer international stocks from that hub. Zerodha's service runs through BSE's India INX Global Access platform at GIFT City, and the US shares are held by a US brokerage partner rather than in an Indian demat account, the usual Indian account for holding shares. Resident Indians can activate the segment inside their existing Kite account, without opening a second one.

The money side is just as concrete. Funding works only through netbanking at supported Indian banks, since UPI, debit cards and credit cards are not accepted. Zerodha charges 0.1% of the trade value as brokerage, with a minimum of $0.01 and a maximum of $10 per executed order, plus 18% GST on the brokerage. An IFSCA turnover fee of 0.005% applies, and currency conversion carries a negotiated bank markup of 0.5% to 1.2% over the RBI reference rate. Intraday trading, margin trading and US IPOs are not available.

And so, concretely, what changes? For an Indian saver, the practical shift is that a portfolio built around Indian shares can now hold Nvidia, Apple or an ETF that tracks technology megatrends, without going through a foreign bank or a separate account. For a small investor, the $1 entry point and fractional shares make the amount invested a question of budget rather than of share price. The limits are real: the service is in beta, the fees are per trade and the currency markup can exceed the brokerage on a small order, and the investor takes on the dollar exposure. Competitors are moving at the same pace. Groww went live in September with Alpaca Securities and lists more than 10,000 US stocks and ETFs. Upstox launched in September with more than 8,000 stocks. Angel One has begun a limited rollout, with a wider launch planned by mid-November and zero brokerage until December 2026, after which it will charge 0.1% per trade with a minimum of $0.99.

For now, the segment is young, and the figures are the brokers' own published terms. Users will see in the coming months whether beta access widens without friction, and whether the fee structure holds once the competition for these customers settles.