Zerodha to launch US stock investment option next quarter

Zerodha, India’s largest stockbroker by revenue, plans to roll out a feature that will allow investors to buy and sell US stocks by the next quarter, founder and CEO Nithin Kamath said, according to a Moneycontrol report.

“We are working on it, and we should have something in the next quarter. It is a product launch,” Kamath said during an Ask Me Anything session with the company’s founders and top management on YouTube.

The Bengaluru-based brokerage, which has so far not offered access to US equities, is developing the product using the GIFT City framework. This route provides regulatory clarity for international financial services and investments under the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA).

Zerodha’s Chief Technology Officer Kailash Nadh said the firm is aiming to deliver a seamless experience for users.

“We now have the required regulatory clarity through GIFT City. We are working to make the backend and frontend experience simple,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

The move comes at a time when Zerodha’s financial performance has softened after years of steady growth. The broker reported a 15% drop in both revenue and profit in FY25, with revenue declining to ₹8,500 crore and net profit to ₹4,200 crore.

The company has indicated that FY26 could see a steeper revenue fall of around 40 percent from FY24 levels due to recent changes in futures and options (F&O) trading rules.

Zerodha had previously explored offering US stock investments in 2020 but shelved the plan amid COVID-19 disruptions and regulatory hurdles around overseas remittances.

The new plan is expected to use the India INX Global Access and NSE-IX Unsponsored Depository Receipts (UDRs) platforms at GIFT City to facilitate such investments.

Several other Indian brokerages, including Angel One, INDmoney, HDFC Securities, and Kuvera, already allow users to invest in US markets. Some platforms, such as Groww, paused onboarding in early 2024 due to complications with remittance rules and the higher 20% Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on overseas investments above ₹7 lakh.