Indian apps open U.S. stocks

For years, Indian retail investors had to rely on global banks to buy American shares. That barrier is falling as two of the country's largest trading platforms launch direct access features this month.

The shift is driven by a sharp divergence in market performance. Since the start of 2026, the Nifty 50 has dropped nearly 13%. In the same period, the S&P 500 has gained more than 12%. This gap is pushing investors to seek stability in U.S. markets.

Groww, which serves over 29% of India's 46 million active brokerage investors, launched its U.S. equity feature earlier this month. Harsh Jain, the company's chief operating officer and co-founder, said the platform now offers more than 10,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds. Jain noted that Nvidia, SpaceX, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Micron, and Meta are the most popular choices among early users.

Zerodha, the second-largest platform with a 15% market share, is currently beta testing its U.S. stock access. The company expects to launch the feature in a few weeks. Angel One, which manages 6.7 million active retail clients, is also preparing to offer similar services.

Somnath Mukherjee, vice president of corporate development at Zerodha, attributed the demand to the lack of local artificial intelligence champions in India. He stated that the rupee's decline against the dollar is also encouraging investors to keep a part of their portfolio in another currency. Nitin Jain, chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Singapore, described the current enthusiasm as comparable to the recent surge in cryptocurrency interest.

Capital is moving abroad at an accelerated rate. In August, Indian residents sent more than $321 million to invest in foreign equity and debt, an 111% increase from a year earlier. For the financial year ending in March 2026, outward remittances for such investments totaled $2.6 billion.

Tanvi Kanchan of Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers noted that investment now makes up about 11.7% of total outward remittances. This figure has risen from 5.8% a year ago, indicating a shift from spending abroad to investing abroad. Foreign investors have also pulled a record $32.5 billion from direct Indian equities since January, according to NSDL data.