Most Indian portfolios own one country: India.
That is a concentrated bet, on a single market and a single currency, the rupee, which has slid against the dollar for decades.
A global slice answers both. In your asset allocation, put roughly 20 to 30 percent to work outside India, and hold it through the cycle.
Some years India does well, other years it does not.
When you also own a slice abroad, one of the two is usually doing well, so your portfolio holds up better either way.
This guide lays out every route a resident Indian can use in 2026, and whether each suits a monthly SIP or a lump sum.
Why hold anything outside India
Three quick reasons, then we move to how.
You own too little of the world. India is about 3 percent of the world’s stock market. An all-India portfolio leaves the other 97 percent untouched, including global leaders and whole sectors you cannot buy at home.
Uncorrelation. Global markets do not move in lockstep with India. No single market stays on top, so when India does badly, another market often does well, and your portfolio swings less.
Currency. The rupee has slid against the dollar for decades. When part of your money sits in dollars, a weaker rupee makes that slice worth more in rupee terms.
These 3 are the case for a slice abroad.
The route that used to be easy, and what broke it
For years the simplest way to invest abroad was a plain mutual fund. You bought an international fund in rupees, the fund manager bought the foreign assets, and you never thought about dollars or paperwork.
The most famous was the India-listed Nasdaq 100 fund. Many investors did very well from it.
Then a ceiling got in the way.
Indian mutual funds share one overall limit on how much they can hold overseas, set by the RBI at roughly 7 billion US dollars across the whole industry. Early in 2022, the industry hit that ceiling.
In plain terms. The ceiling is shared. When all the funds together have used it up, no single fund can buy fresh foreign assets, even if you want to give it money. So most of them stopped taking fresh investment.
A few funds still reopen for a while when some investors exit, then shut again, like a bus that lets one person on each time someone gets off.
There is one more catch. When the ceiling is full, the Motilal Oswal Nasdaq 100 ETF cannot create new units, so it trades above the value of what it holds, and you overpay for the same basket. It trades at a premium.
With this as context, let us see the 5 ways in which you can still take exposure to global markets.
The five routes
Five routes are open to a resident in 2026:
Route 1. International funds that are still open
Route 2. Domestic funds that already hold global stocks
Route 3. India-listed global ETFs
Route 4. US stocks direct, through an app
Route 5. GIFT City retail funds
The first 3 suit a small monthly SIP, the last 2 a lump sum you buy and hold. Here is each in turn.
Route 1: International funds that are still open
Good for a monthly SIP
The classic way to invest abroad from India is an international fund of fund. It is a rupee fund that routes your money into an overseas fund or index, and you buy it like any SIP.
Most of these shut when the industry hit its overseas ceiling. A useful number stay open.
As of mid 2026, roughly 28 such fund of funds and a few ETFs still accept fresh money. Minimum SIPs can run as low as 100 to 500 rupees.
Who it is for. The small monthly investor who wants a plain rupee SIP and no overseas account.
How you do it. Buy the international fund of fund on your usual platform and set a SIP. No dollars, no LRS, no foreign paperwork.
The pros. Tiny minimums, a normal rupee SIP, no Schedule FA filing, and the convenience of one more line in your existing portfolio.
The cons. The fund can stop taking fresh money with little notice, a large lumpsum may not get in, and an exchange-traded version can trade above the value of what it holds.
Here are some Mutual Funds currently accepting SIPs, examples as of mid-2026
The open list shifts every few weeks as fund houses use up and free up overseas room, so check before you start.
Route 2: Domestic funds that already hold global stocks
Good for a monthly SIP
You do not always have to leave the Indian mutual fund system to get foreign exposure. Some funds you buy in rupees already hold a slice of overseas assets inside them.
Multi-asset and hybrid funds are the cleanest example. So are some flexi-cap, value and dividend-yield equity funds.
They are mandated to keep most of their money in Indian equity, around 65 percent or more, and they use part of the rest to buy abroad.
Who it is for. The investor who wants some global exposure baked in, with no separate account and no dollar paperwork.
How you do it. Nothing new. Buy the fund in rupees through your usual platform, lumpsum or SIP, like any Indian mutual fund.
The pros. No overseas account, no remittance, no extra filing. These funds also cannot suddenly shut, because fresh money flows into their Indian portion.
The cons. You do not control the foreign slice, and it tends to shrink. As a fund gathers more money, the new cash mostly goes into Indian assets, so the overseas share dilutes. One well-known flexi-cap fund drifted from roughly a third in global equity a few years ago to about a tenth now.
Domestic funds with an overseas slice, approximate holdings as of mid-2026
These slices are approximate and drift over time, so treat them as a snapshot, not a fixed feature of the fund.
Route 3: India-listed global ETFs
Good for a monthly SIP
An ETF is a fund that trades on the exchange like a share. Some Indian ETFs track a foreign index, such as the Nasdaq 100, and you buy them in rupees on the NSE or BSE.
You can SIP into them like a stock, daily, weekly or monthly, for the cost of normal brokerage. No dollars, no LRS, no Schedule FA.
There is one catch.
When the industry overseas ceiling is full, the ETF cannot create new units, so it often trades above the value of what it holds, a premium to NAV.
You can overpay.
Why a SIP helps here. The premium spikes and collapses, so a lumpsum dropped at a spike can lose a chunk even if the index does nothing. A monthly SIP averages your entry across high and low premiums, which softens it.
A caveat for right now: as of mid-2026 these premiums are unusually high, so the ETFs are a real option but not a clean entry today.
Who it is for. The investor who wants a cheap, exchange-traded global index in rupees, and will SIP rather than drop a lumpsum.
How you do it. Buy the ETF on the exchange through any demat account, and set a SIP. Check the premium to NAV before each buy.
The pros. Very low cost, just brokerage and a small expense ratio. A rupee SIP, with no conversion and no foreign paperwork.
The cons. The premium to NAV can make you overpay, worst on a lumpsum at a spike. Choice is limited to the few global ETFs that are listed.
India-listed global ETFs and their expense ratios (NSE, as of June 2026)
The cost here is just this small yearly expense ratio and brokerage. The premium to NAV is the thing to watch, and a SIP is your friend.
Bigger, more-traded ETFs like MON100 tend to track their value tightly. Thinner ones can swing to wider premiums, so check the gap before you buy.
Route 4: US stocks and ETFs direct, through an app
Good for buy and hold, not trading
You can buy US stocks and ETFs yourself, through an app like INDmoney or a full broker like Interactive Brokers. This runs on the LRS, the rule that lets a resident send money abroad to invest.
Take INDmoney as the example.
It charges no account-opening fee and no maintenance or platform fee.
You pay a brokerage of 0.25 percent per trade, capped at 25 dollars, and your bank charges a currency conversion of about 0.5 to 1.2 percent when your rupees become dollars.
What INDmoney charges for US stocks, as of mid-2026 (verify on the platform)
Notice what this means. You pay a brokerage and a conversion on every trade, so frequent buying and selling bleeds your returns.
This is not a trading account.
It is built for one thing: buy a few good holdings and keep them for years.
Then the one-time conversion of about 1 percent fades to nothing, and you owe almost nothing to hold.
Held for many years, this works out cheaper than a fund. A fund takes its expense ratio every single year, on your whole growing corpus, while here you mostly pay once, on the way in.
So the longer you hold, the more the direct route wins. The catch is that it only pays off if you genuinely hold for the long term.
Who it is for. The investor who wants to choose and hold their own US stocks and ETFs for the long term.
How you do it. Open the app, finish KYC, add money under the LRS, up to 250,000 US dollars a year, and buy. You can buy fractions of a share, so the amount can be small.
The pros. The widest choice, individual shares and ETFs, very low holding cost, and no account-opening or maintenance fees on the better apps.
The cons. A brokerage and conversion on every trade make it wrong for active trading. You report holdings in Schedule FA, and directly held US assets can attract US estate tax. Leverage and crypto ETFs are not allowed under the LRS.
A word on picking a platform. A global broker like Interactive Brokers gives the widest universe, but it is built for the world, so it hands you no India-ready tax report; you export the data and fill Schedule FA yourself.
Indian apps like INDmoney and Vested are tailored to Indians, with ready tax statements and rupee support, which is why most residents start there.
Apps and brokers for direct US investing, examples as of mid-2026
One shift is worth watching. In June 2026, Zerodha, Groww, Upstox and Angel One received GIFT City approval to offer US stock investing through a new low-cost route called the Global Access Provider framework.
It is expected to go live around September 2026, and could push the cost of buying down further.
So if you are not in a hurry, it may be worth waiting a couple of months to see how these launch. We will cover them in full once they are live.
However you do it, this route rewards buy and hold. Build your position over a few buys, hold for years, and the one-time costs barely register.
Route 5: GIFT City retail funds
Good for a lump sum
This route is built for residents with a lump sum who want global exposure under an Indian regulator and with lighter paperwork.
GIFT City is India’s international finance centre near Ahmedabad. Funds run from there are domiciled in India but invest overseas, and they are regulated by the IFSCA, an Indian regulator.
Because they sit under this separate regime, they do not share that 7 billion dollar mutual fund ceiling, so they do not open and shut like feeder funds.
The catch for a small investor is the entry size. The minimum is usually around 5,000 US dollars, so this is a lump-sum route, not a small monthly SIP.
The process is specific, so here it is step by step.
Who it is for. The investor with a lump sum who prefers an Indian regulator, simpler tax handling and a fund structure.
How you do it. Pick a GIFT or IFSC registered fund house or broker. Open a separate IFSC account and finish a fresh KYC, usually a few working days. Remit dollars under the LRS using purpose code S0001, the code for overseas investment. Then buy in dollars, and keep idle money under the 180-day repatriation rule.
The pros. It cannot shut the way feeder funds do. You deal with an Indian regulator and Indian grievance channels. Tax compliance is lighter, and for many India-domiciled structures Schedule FA may not apply, though that depends on the fund, so check its tax note. Because you hold the fund, not US assets directly, it can also keep you out of US estate tax.
The cons. You still go through LRS and its TCS. Tax sits at the fund level, which on short-term churn can be charged at a high rate, so some funds route through a master fund abroad to soften this.
GIFT City retail funds open to residents, examples as of mid-2026
Where this leaves you
Keep roughly 20 to 30 percent of your equity working outside India, and hold it for years. Then choose your route by how you want to invest.
An international fund still open, when you want the simplest monthly SIP, in rupees, with no paperwork.
A domestic fund that already holds global stocks, when you want the exposure built in, with nothing new to manage.
An India-listed global ETF, when you want a cheap global index and will SIP, watching the premium.
The direct route through an app like INDmoney, when you want to pick and hold your own US stocks, as a one-time buy, not for trading.
A GIFT City retail fund, when you have a lump sum and want an Indian regulator and lighter tax.
That is the full set of routes. Hopefully you now have a clearer idea of how to invest globally from India, and which one suits you.
Thank you for reading!
finvezto.com | Build Wealth Systematically
Anand Ganapathy K | SEBI Registered Research Analyst | INH000016630.
This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, fund or platform. Funds, platforms and structures named are used only to illustrate how a route works. Regulatory limits, tax rates and product details mentioned, can change and are stated as of June 2026, so verify the current position and consult a qualified tax advisor before acting. Investment in securities and overseas assets is subject to market and currency risks. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Wwhich is best for small investors in every aspec like expense ratio, rs to doller conversion, indian tax with no limits for fund restrictions.
Excellent writeup