ZFunds, a business-to-business wealth platform for mutual fund distributors (MFDs) and wealth managers, launched access to US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on October 22, 2026. Unlike do-it-yourself (DIY) investing apps, the platform enables distributors to onboard clients, guide their investments in international stocks and ETFs, and earn brokerage income. Founded in 2019 by Manish Kothari and Vidhi Tuteja, ZFunds allows distributors to manage their businesses through a single app, which their clients can also use to invest. The platform has opened around 5,000 accounts without any marketing, demonstrating strong demand from both distributors and their clients. Brokerage is typically 0.3% per trade, with most of the revenue going to the distributor, and can be as low as 0.1% for larger investments, which Kothari believes is the lowest in the market.
Groww has launched US equity trading earlier this month, offering access to more than 10,000 US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) along with fractional share ownership, according to CNBC. Nvidia, SpaceX, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Micron and Meta are among the most popular companies with early users, as reported by Mint. Zerodha, India's second-largest trading platform with a 15% share of active clients, has started beta testing access to US stocks and plans to launch the feature in a few weeks. Angel One, which has 6.7 million active retail clients, is also reportedly planning to introduce US stock trading. Somnath Mukherjee, vice president of corporate development at Zerodha, told CNBC that there has always been latent demand in India for investing in global companies, with the underperformance of Indian markets and absence of major domestic AI companies driving interest in overseas investments.
India's benchmark Nifty 50 has fallen nearly 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P 500 has gained more than 12%, creating significant performance disparities that are driving retail investor interest in US markets. Foreign investors have withdrawn a record $32.5 billion from direct equities since January, according to data from Indian depository NSDL. Resident Indians sent more than $321 million overseas for equity and debt investments in August, up 111% from a year earlier, with investment accounting for 11.7% of total outward remittances, compared with 5.8% a year ago. Nitin Jain, chief executive and director at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Singapore, told CNBC that there is a 'big interest' among Indians to invest in US stocks, especially in tech companies, noting that retail investors like whatever goes up, pointing to the frenzy among Indian investors for cryptocurrencies a few years ago.
ZFunds differentiates itself from other international investing platforms by allowing distributors to onboard their own clients and build a business around international stock investments. According to Kothari, existing platforms largely follow the DIY model and do not allow distributors to onboard clients. The platform offers a minimum transfer amount of $100 with currency conversion charges determined by banks and payment partners, with spreads around 0.6 to 0.7%. The investment range is much wider than available in India, including US-listed gold ETFs, bond and Treasury bill ETFs, thematic ETFs covering artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, clean energy, water and oncology, country-specific ETFs covering China, Japan and Brazil, and emerging markets. The platform works with ViewTrade for brokerage services and plans to introduce UCITS funds next week, which will allow investors to gain exposure to other markets without having to buy US-listed ETFs.
Artha Bharat had targeted doubling its assets to $1.5 billion over three years and had grown from a single-fund platform to six funds within two years of entering GIFT City. According to Moneycontrol, Vandit Shah of PwC noted that the interaction between the IFSCA, FEMA and Income-tax frameworks needed to be viewed in context, as the three regimes were designed to complement one another. A source familiar with the discussions confirmed that Artha Bharat's concerns had been taken up with officials at the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), but the matter ultimately rested with the Department of Revenue. Artha Bharat will continue to operate from the centre, retain support functions there and may use GIFT-based vehicles as feeders, with the relocation limited to the master funds of two of its six funds. As participation in US stock trading grows, Kotak's Jain cautioned that Indian regulators could have 'second thoughts' about allowing retail investors access to US markets, highlighting the evolving regulatory landscape for overseas investment access.
