Investing in US stocks from India: Check how these 5 platforms stack up

Fees, structure and tax help differ across INDmoney, Interactive Brokers, Vested Finance, Paasa and ZFunds

Indian investors who want US and other overseas stocks have more routes than ever. Mutual funds have hit the industry-wide $7 billion SEBI cap on overseas investments, so more investors are going direct under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which allows up to $250,000 per person a financial year.

Demand is moving the market quickly. Platforms are adding features, changing how they are set up and launching products at pace, so it helps to know what each one does best and whether it fits your needs. This story looks at five: INDmoney, Interactive Brokers (IBKR), Vested Finance, Paasa and ZFunds. Business Standard heard from executives at four of the five and spoke to two investors who have used most of them. 

What to compare

Four things separate these platforms.

1. Cost. The visible cost is brokerage, charged on each trade. The bigger one is usually currency conversion. When rupees are converted to dollars, the bank or platform adds a markup to the exchange rate, so it never appears as a separate fee. Amit Upadhyaya, a personal finance YouTuber and experienced investor who has used most of these apps and made videos about them, told Business Standard that “it is not brokerage fee; it is basically currency conversion charges.” Upadhyaya put the cost at 1–2 per cent. Across the platforms here, the markup runs from about 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent, depending on the platform and your bank. 
2. Structure. The question is who stands between you and the US broker. IBKR, for example, is a direct broker. Others add an Indian layer that handles remittance, tax and support. “You are working with some amount of vulnerability,” Upadhyaya said, because there are two layers, an Indian player and an international one. “You can never tell how well they are synchronised.”
3. Tax help. Overseas holdings must be declared in Schedule FA of the income tax return, whether or not you made a gain. Most platforms now generate Schedule FA reports. IBKR’s tax documents follow the US calendar year, so investors have to map them to India’s April–March year themselves.
4. What you can buy. US-listed holdings above $60,000 can attract US estate tax of up to 40 per cent. Ireland-domiciled UCITS ETFs can help avoid this and cut dividend withholding tax from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Not every platform offers them, as the comparison below shows.

Comparison between platforms

	INDmoney	Interactive Brokers	Vested Finance	Paasa	ZFunds
Started	2019	1978	2019	2024	2019 (US stocks added recently)
Size (as reported)	$3.5 bn global investing assets	~5.7 mn accounts; ~$929 bn client equity (Oct 2026)	$1 bn+ customer assets	~25,000	~5,000 accounts in first week of US stocks
Built for	Salaried retail investors	Self-directed, experienced investors	Long-term investors, NRIs, RSU holders	Wealthy investors, wealth managers	Clients of mutual fund distributors
Stands out for	One app for Indian and US assets	Low trading cost, wide market access	Pre-IPO deals (e.g. SpaceX), managed portfolios	Simple app over IBKR, managed strategies, adviser tie-ups	Instant cash on sale, US T-bills
Underlying broker	IFSCA Principal GAP (Clears via DriveWealth / Alpaca)	None (direct broker)	DriveWealth (clearing)	Interactive Brokers	ViewTrade
Brokerage	0.10%, max $10	$0.0035/share, min $0.35, max 1%	0.25% (0.15% high-tier)	0.10%; min $0.50 (US), $1.85 (UCITS)	0.30%; 0.10% for high-value clients
Currency conversion	0.5–1.25% via partner banks	Depends on your bank, about 2%; plus ₹500–1,000 + GST per wire	~1–1.5%, depends on bank	~0.7–1% (60–90 paise a dollar)	~0.6–0.7%
Withdrawal	No INDmoney fee	1 free a month, then $5	Free above $100 in INR; $3 below	1 free a month	No withdrawal fee
Tax help	Schedule FA auto-filled; files ITR	US-year documents; manual mapping	Schedule FA report	Schedule FA report	Schedule FA report
UCITS ETFs	Yes	Yes	Not yet	Yes	Rolling out

Notes: Vested charges $5 per USD withdrawal, which mainly applies to NRI accounts. “Size” figures are as reported by each company and are not like-for-like.

INDmoney

Launched in 2019, INDmoney targets salaried retail investors and runs as an IFSCA-licensed Global Access Provider in GIFT City. It also files income tax returns for users, with Schedule FA filled in. The company reports $3.5 billion in global investing assets and plans to add European and Southeast Asian exchanges by December 2026. “We are not building a platform exclusively for wealthy individuals making large international remittances,” founder and CEO Ashish Kashyap told Business Standard.

Interactive Brokers

Founded in 1978, IBKR is a direct broker with no Indian intermediary and reported about 5.7 million client accounts in October 2026. It offers UCITS ETFs and several overseas markets, but has a complex interface, manual tax work and bank wire fees of ₹500–1,000 plus GST per transfer. Pranay Kapoor, a tech professional and YouTuber who has tried most of these apps, told Business Standard that with IBKR “there is no middleman.” Kapoor sends money in large tranches so the flat wire fee stays small.

Vested Finance

Started in 2019 and led by founder and CEO Viram Shah, Vested says it has over $1 billion in customer assets. It is aimed at long-term investors, NRIs and employees holding US company stock units. It offers more than 10,000 US stocks and ETFs, UCITS global funds, pre-IPO access to companies such as SpaceX and managed portfolios. It generates Schedule FA reports.

Paasa

Launched in 2024 and built on Interactive Brokers, Paasa offers a simpler app, UCITS ETFs and automatic Schedule FA reports, and is aimed at wealthy investors. Wealth managers are its bigger channel: founder Nitish Sahni told Business Standard that about 90 per cent of its growth comes through them. Advice is offered through Arc Spire Advisory, a SEBI-registered adviser, with strategy fees of 0.3–1 per cent of assets. “We actually don’t make any money on FX,” Sahni said.

ZFunds

Launched in 2019 for mutual fund distributors, ZFunds added US stocks recently. Clients must be tagged to a distributor, so there is no do-it-yourself route. Brokerage is 0.3 per cent, mostly shared with the distributor, co-founder Manish Kothari told Business Standard, and falls to 0.1 per cent for high-value clients. Proceeds from a sale reach the wallet at once, and US Treasury bills are available.

Does one platform do it all?

Upadhyaya told Business Standard that no single platform covers everything. “I don’t think any one broker is perfect today. Everyone has their own gaps,” Upadhyaya said. According to Upadhyaya, there is no need to lock all your money in one place, because each broker offers some benefit you can use. A single platform also means seeing only its conversion charges and missing any rise, Upadhyaya said. Spreading accounts also reduces the two-layer risk, Upadhyaya added.

Upadhyaya’s advice is to go step by step. Start with a simpler platform, one with the lowest entry barrier and everything else in one app. Once you are investing multiple thousand dollars a year, optimising begins to make sense. “It’s a gradual step by step journey,” Upadhyaya said. The field changes daily, Upadhyaya added, and regulation adds uncertainty.

Newer entrants, and a caution

Bigger names are now joining. Groww opened US stock investing to all customers in October. Zerodha began a beta rollout of US stock investing to select users in October, routed through BSE’s India INX Global Access. India INX is BSE’s GIFT City subsidiary, so it is a route rather than a broker. Dhan launched US stocks and ETFs through GIFT City in June. 

Arrangements can also change. Kapoor told Business Standard that brokers behind some platforms have been switched in the past, and investors moved from one broker to another ended up paying capital gains tax. The right pick depends on what you need. IBKR suits investors who are comfortable with a complex platform and want low trading costs. INDmoney and Vested offer simpler apps with tax help. Paasa is aimed at wealthier investors who want a wealth manager or advice, and ZFunds suits those who already work with a mutual fund distributor. With fees and structures changing quickly, check each platform’s current charges before you send money.