When markets close for the day, most conversations about money end too. Ashutosh Financial Services has long believed that the opposite should happen — that a good investment idea deserves to be unpacked, questioned, and understood, not just acted upon. This thinking shaped a webinar held on August 2020, “Get Ready To Invest In The U.S. Equity Market!”, where speaker Daxesh Kothari walked a global audience through the reasoning behind looking beyond domestic markets.
The session was timed well. Indian investors have historically kept almost all their equity exposure within the country, which means their portfolios move in step with whatever happens locally — a weak monsoon, a spike in oil prices, a political disruption, or a slowing economy. Kothari’s central argument was straightforward: if every investment you hold is tied to the fortunes of one country, you haven’t really diversified, you’ve just spread the same risk across different stocks. Adding foreign equity, particularly from the United States, changes that equation because it introduces a second, largely independent set of economic drivers into the portfolio.
A meaningful part of the session was devoted to explaining why the U.S. specifically, rather than any other foreign market, makes sense as a starting point. The data presented was telling. As of 2023, the United States accounted for roughly 58 percent of global equity value — more than the next several countries combined — and was home to 78 of Fortune’s 100 most admired companies worldwide. Kothari also pointed out that the U.S. and India together represent both the world’s largest economy and its fastest-growing major economy, so an investor holding both isn’t choosing between growth and stability, but capturing a version of each.
Much of the presentation focused on companies attendees already interact with daily, which made the idea of investing abroad feel less abstract. The electronics people carry, the platforms they scroll through, the streaming services they watch, and the payment networks behind their transactions are, in many cases, owned by U.S.-listed corporations. Kothari used this everyday familiarity to make a broader point: Indian investors are already economically connected to these businesses as consumers, so extending that connection to ownership is a natural next step rather than a speculative leap.
The session also addressed a question that comes up often — whether U.S. stocks are simply too expensive to be worth buying. Kothari compared price-to-earnings ratios across sectors, showing that several large American companies traded at lower valuations than their Indian counterparts in similar industries. JPMorgan Chase, for instance, was trading at a considerably lower earnings multiple than ICICI Bank, and Toyota’s multiple was well below Mahindra & Mahindra’s. The takeaway wasn’t that Indian companies are overpriced, but that Indian valuations often already price in future growth expectations, while some global peers may still offer room for re-rating.
Currency was another thread that ran through the discussion. Over the six years leading up to the data shared in the session, the U.S. dollar had appreciated against the rupee by close to 4 percent annually on a compounded basis. Because of this, returns from U.S. indices measured in rupee terms have historically outpaced the same returns measured in dollars — the S&P 500 grew close to 3.9 times in dollar terms over roughly a decade, but over 7 times when converted to rupees. This currency effect, Kothari explained, works quietly in the background for Indian investors holding dollar-denominated assets, and it also means that a portfolio with some U.S. exposure can double as a source of foreign currency for goals like a child’s overseas education, international travel, or eventual relocation.
On the practical side, the webinar covered how such investing has become considerably more accessible. Fractional share ownership now allows investors to buy a small slice of high-priced U.S. stocks rather than needing the full share price upfront, and structured stock portfolios built around specific themes — with periodic rebalancing and clear benchmarks like the S&P 500 — offer a more disciplined route than picking individual names. The session also touched on how existing tax treaties between India and the U.S. help investors avoid being taxed twice on the same income.
Sessions like this one reflect an approach Ashutosh Financial Services returns to often: that good financial decisions are rarely about chasing the next opportunity, and far more about understanding the mechanics behind it first. Global markets will keep evolving, and so will the questions investors have about them — which is exactly why conversations like this one continue to matter.
