India's discount brokers are suddenly obsessed with America.
Zerodha, Groww, Upstox and Angel One all got approvals within weeks of each other, turning what was once a niche product into what feels like table stakes. The timing isn't accidental. The rupee has weakened against the dollar, domestic markets have wobbled, and investors are desperate for a slice of NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. Add the hype around SpaceX's record-breaking IPO and the anticipated listings of OpenAI and Anthropic, and you have a perfect storm for cross-border expansion.
But here's the thing: access is easy. Making money at it is hard. The brokers are fighting over a product where the real costs aren't brokerage at all—they're hidden in currency conversion, regulatory fees and the plumbing of cross-border custody.
On the surface, Zerodha's pricing looks simple: 0.1% brokerage, capped at $10 per order, with a minimum of $0.01. That's a steal for large orders. A $20,000 trade costs you $10 in brokerage, whereas a flat 0.1% without a cap would cost $20. But for small orders, Zerodha earns almost nothing. A $10 trade generates just one cent in brokerage.
Angel One is playing a different game. It's offering zero brokerage until December 2026, then switching to 0.1% with a $0.99 minimum from January 2027. Groww charges 0.1% with a $1 minimum per order. On a $100 order, Zerodha makes $0.10, while Angel One and Groww pocket about $1. That's a massive difference in effective rates for small investors.
The real revenue driver, however, isn't brokerage. It's the forex markup. Zerodha's guide says it has negotiated a bank markup of 0.5% to 1.2% over the RBI reference rate. That's 5 to 12 times the brokerage rate, and it applies to the full amount you remit. Groww's educational blog notes that forex markups across the industry typically range from 0.5% to 3.5%. Neither broker discloses exactly how much of that markup they keep versus what the bank takes, but it's safe to say this is where the bulk of the revenue sits for small, infrequent investors.
All three brokers—Zerodha, Upstox and Groww—let you buy US stocks starting at $1. That sounds great for accessibility, but it creates a math problem for revenue. A $1 order generates almost nothing in brokerage, even with a $1 minimum fee. The economics only work if investors trade frequently or in larger amounts.
Zerodha's $0.01 minimum means tiny orders are essentially free for the customer, which could encourage volume but crushes revenue per trade. Groww and Angel One, with their roughly $1 minimums, earn more on small orders but might discourage the very micro-transactions that fractional investing is supposed to enable. The truth is, no broker has disclosed data on trade frequency or average revenue per user for US stocks, so any claims about which model wins are just guesswork.
Here's where Groww tries to flex its muscles. Through its partnership with Alpaca Securities, Groww offers access to more than 10,000 US stocks and ETFs. Upstox claims over 8,000 stocks and 2,000+ ETFs. Zerodha, by contrast, offers up to 2,000 of the largest US companies and around 1,000 ETFs with assets over $250 million.
Does this matter? For most retail investors, probably not. The mega-cap tech names everyone wants—NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon—are on all three platforms. The extra thousands of names are mostly small-cap stocks that are illiquid and risky. Zerodha's filtered universe is a feature, not a bug, for conservative investors. But for the speculative crowd or those chasing niche themes, Groww's wider catalog is a legitimate marketing advantage.
No intraday, no margin, no securities lending. That's a sharp contrast to its domestic business, which thrives on active traders using leverage. For someone who wants to day-trade US stocks, Zerodha is a non-starter.
The question is whether competitors are any different. Upstox's app listing touts 5X leverage for intraday and 4X for margin trading—but that's explicitly for Indian markets. I found no confirmation that any broker offers margin or intraday for US equities. The IFSCA framework and LRS rules likely make leverage difficult to offer for overseas investments. So while Zerodha's delivery-only model limits its appeal to active traders, it's not clear that anyone else is solving that problem yet.
Here's a surprise: nobody lets you fund US stocks with UPI or cards. Zerodha explicitly says UPI, debit cards and credit cards aren't supported. Groww's US funding flow is a bank remittance through netbanking, complete with OTPs and bank consent. Upstox requires a bank transfer under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), with funds taking 3–5 business days to credit.
This isn't a Zerodha-specific problem; it's a regulatory constraint. Outward remittances under LRS must come from your own bank account, and UPI isn't designed for cross-border transfers. The friction is real, especially for younger investors used to instant UPI payments, but it's an industry-wide hurdle, not a competitive differentiator.
Zerodha routes your US trades through BSE's India INX Global Access at GIFT City, which then connects to an unnamed US brokerage partner. Your securities sit with that US broker, not in an Indian demat account. Groww, as a Global Access Provider (GAP), connects directly to US brokers—Inc42 reports it uses Alpaca Securities, though a Groww help page mentions Viewtrade Securities and Apex Clearing.
The difference is subtle but important. Zerodha's model adds a layer—India INX—between it and the US broker. That might reduce operational complexity for Zerodha, but it also creates dependency. If India INX or the US broker has an outage or compliance issue, Zerodha's US business takes a hit. Groww's direct GAP model gives it more control but also more compliance burden. IFSCA requires GAPs to maintain a minimum net worth of $500,000, compared to $100,000 for other broker-dealers accessing global markets through a GAP.
The IFSCA approvals in June 2026 didn't just open the door—they slammed it shut for latecomers. The framework requires a GIFT City presence, net worth commitments, annual audits and strict product screening. That's manageable for well-funded players like Zerodha, Groww, Upstox and Angel One, but it's a significant barrier for smaller brokers.
The timing of the approvals also created a synchronized launch. Zerodha and Groww got the green light on June 2, Angel One on June 12. Within months, all four had rolled out US investing. That simultaneity turns US access into a baseline feature rather than a differentiator. The real competition now is on pricing, user experience and who can navigate the complex web of forex, custody and regulation most efficiently.
US stock trades come with a stack of fees that don't exist in domestic brokerage. Zerodha charges an IFSCA turnover fee of 0.005% on trade value, plus US regulatory fees like the SEC fee (0.00206%) on sell orders. These are pass-through costs—they don't go into Zerodha's pocket—but they do increase the customer's all-in cost.
On a $9,000 sell order, for example, brokerage is $9, GST is $1.62, the IFSCA fee is $0.45 and the SEC fee is $0.19. The regulatory fees add about $0.64, or roughly 7% of the brokerage. On large orders where brokerage is capped at $10, those fees become a bigger chunk of the total cost. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's a reminder that "cheap" US trading has more moving parts than zero-brokerage domestic delivery.
Angel One's zero-brokerage promo until December 2026 is a classic acquisition play, but the window is short. Once pricing normalizes, the battle will shift to forex rates, universe breadth and user experience. Zerodha's capped fees favor large, long-term investors. Groww's wider universe appeals to the curious and the speculative. Angel One's research and advisory heritage might attract investors who want hand-holding.
The wildcards are the upcoming mega-IPOs. SpaceX has already listed, and OpenAI and Anthropic are waiting in the wings. These names could drive a surge of interest in US stocks, but they'll be available on all platforms. The winners will be the brokers who can convert that hype into sticky, long-term relationships—not just one-off trades.
For now, the US stock expansion is less about revolutionizing brokerage and more about diversification. It's a new revenue stream, yes, but one with thin margins, complex plumbing and fierce competition. The brokers that survive this gold rush won't necessarily be the ones with the lowest fees. They'll be the ones who manage the risks—forex, custody, regulatory—without passing too much pain to the customer.
