Invest in US Stocks with Zero Commission

The process to start investing in international stocks via the Angel One app is quick and simple. You can open a US brokerage account within a matter of 5 minutes*. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

• Open the Angel One mobile app.
• Click on the ‘International Investing’ tab and select the ‘Start Investing’ option.
• Click on ‘Start KYC.’

For the KYC process, you need to upload a clear image of the following documents.

• PAN (for ID proof)
• Aadhaar/Bank statement (for address proof)

Once you have submitted your KYC, it takes around 1-3 business days for your account to get approved. After that, you can fund your account from your bank in India (or, if you have another US brokerage/bank account, you could fund your account through that option as well).

When your funds are received, you can start investing in the US stocks, ETFs and the custom portfolios.

We do not impose a minimum investment amount to start US investing. So, the minimum investment amount is entirely up to you.

No, that’s not necessary at all. You do not need to open a bank account in the US to fund the brokerage account. You can transfer the required funds from your bank account in India itself.

Withdrawing your funds is easy. You can sell any shares/ETFs at any time. There is no lock-in period. After selling your investments, you may choose to:

• Keep the funds (in USD) in your brokerage account
• Buy/sell other investment products
• Withdraw your funds

On selling the securities, your funds will settle and be available for withdrawal after 2 business days. Here’s the step-by-step process to withdraw your funds.

Step 1: Click on the ‘Fund Transfer’ option.
Step 2: Click on ‘Withdrawal.’
Step 3: Enter the bank account details.
Step 4: Confirm the withdrawal.

Also, here are a few pointers to note.

• The current charges for getting the funds back to your Indian bank account are 11 USD per withdrawal.
• We do not profit from the wire fees as they are charged by the bank in the US.
• We continuously strive to make this lower by engaging with new partners.

Yes, on both counts. Indian investors can invest in the US stock market legally, regardless of the amount, as long as the total annual amount is less than $250,000 per individual. This is as per the RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme guidelines. To read more about this, you can read our post here.

Tax implications come into play under two categories, namely capital gains and dividends.

You will be taxed in India for the capital gains you earn on selling your investments. You will not be taxed in the US for these earnings. The amount of taxes you have to pay in India depends on how long you hold the investment.

• To qualify as a long-term capital asset, the shares must be held for at least 24 months. The gain will then be taxed at the long-term capital gains tax rate of 20% (plus applicable surcharge and cess fees), with indexation benefits.
• ● If you hold the shares for less than 24 months, the gains qualify as short-term capital gains. They will be taxed as a part of your regular income in India. The tax rate is based on the tax bracket that you fall under, according to your total income.

Unlike capital gains, the dividends you earn from your US investments will be taxed in the US at a flat rate of 25%. For example, if Microsoft gives an investor in India $100 as dividend, $25 will be withheld as tax. Subsequently, this post-tax dividend is included as taxable income in India (as normal income).

Fortunately, the US and India have a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which allows taxpayers to offset income tax already paid in the US. The 25% tax you already paid in the US is made available as Foreign Tax Credit. You can use it to offset the income tax payable in India.

At the end of fiscal year, we will send you a consolidated statement of your transactions, capital gains and dividend that will help simplify the tax process for you.

Currently, we offer more than 1,000 stocks and ETFs. Since we are an advisory platform, we have limited the universe for Indian investors. This allows us to curate the list of stocks and ETFs and provide the first layer of advice.

Vests are custom-made curated portfolios that comprise stocks and/or ETFs. They are constructed with different goals or themes in mind. Some Vests are built to allow investors to invest in diversified core assets that balance performance and downside protection. Other Vests are theme-based, enabling investors to narrowly focus their investments on specific industries or core themes.

Fractional investing is one of the unique things about the US stock markets. Investors can own fractions of stocks, unlike in countries like India. So, for instance, you could own 0.01 of an Amazon stock.

Fractional investing is useful because of the following reasons:

• You can decide to invest based on a certain amount of money. For instance, if a stock is valued at $100 and you decide to invest $10 in it, you will still get 0.1 shares.
• Many US stocks are really high-priced. For example, Amazon’s shares cost around $2,000 each. So, with fractional stocks, you could effectively build a diversified portfolio even with small amounts of money.

The timings for the US market are as follows:

• 7:00 PM to 1:30 AM Indian Standard Time [8th March 2020 - 1st November 2020]
• 8:00 PM to 2:30 AM Indian Standard Time [1st November 2020 - 14th March 2021]