Indian Retail Investors Pile Into Nvidia, SpaceX and Apple as Trading Apps Open Up U.S. Stocks

Leading Indian online investment platforms are opening the door to U.S. stocks for millions of retail investors who want exposure to global assets while the domestic market struggles. Until now, access to U.S. shares and exchange-traded funds was largely reserved for wealthier Indians who went through global banks and wealth management firms.

Groww, which accounts for more than 29% of the country's 46 million active brokerage investors, launched its U.S. equity trading feature earlier this month. Harsh Jain, the company's chief operating officer and co-founder, told CNBC that the platform offers more than 10,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds, along with fractional share ownership. Nvidia, SpaceX, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Micron and Meta have been the favorites among early users, he said.

Zerodha, the second-largest platform with a 15% share of active clients based on NSE data, has begun beta testing U.S. stock access and expects to launch in a few weeks, the company said. Angel One, which has 6.7 million active retail clients, is also reportedly preparing to offer U.S. stock trading.

Nitin Jain, chief executive and director at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Singapore, described "big interest" among Indians in U.S. equities, especially technology companies. He noted that "retail investors like whatever goes up," and compared the current enthusiasm with the rush into crypto a few years ago.

Somnath Mukherjee, vice president of corporate development at Zerodha, said there has "always been latent demand in India for investing in global companies." He pointed to the domestic market's weak performance in recent years and the absence of local artificial intelligence champions as drivers of interest in U.S. offerings. The rupee's decline against the dollar is also encouraging investors "to keep a part of their portfolio in another currency," he said.

The numbers show the gap. The Nifty 50 has fallen nearly 13% since the start of the year, while the S&P 500 has risen more than 12%. Foreign investors have pulled a record $32.5 billion from direct Indian equities since January, according to NSDL data. Experts said the lack of a major AI company and relatively expensive valuations have led investors to favor markets such as South Korea and Taiwan over India.

Money leaving the country by Indian residents is also climbing. In August, residents sent more than $321 million abroad to invest in equity and debt, up 111% from a year earlier, according to the central bank. For the financial year that ended in March 2026, outward remittances for such investments totaled $2.6 billion.

Tanvi Kanchan of Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers said retail outflows are small relative to India's currency reserves, but the concern is that they rise just as the rupee is weak and U.S. markets look strong, which could "amplify pressure at the worst moment." Investment now makes up about 11.7% of total outward remittances, compared with 5.8% a year ago, which she said shows Indians shifting from spending abroad to investing abroad.

The departure of foreign investors and higher energy bills linked to the Iran war have already weighed on the rupee, prompting the central bank to step in. Nitin Jain of Kotak cautioned that as participation grows, the Indian regulator could have "second thoughts" about allowing retail access to U.S. markets.