Setting up to invest in US equities from India is largely a paperwork and process exercise at this point, not a technical or regulatory obstacle course, though it does require a few things to be in order before the first trade.

The starting point is RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which allows resident individuals to remit funds abroad, including for investment in foreign securities, up to the scheme’s annual limit per financial year. Remittance under LRS needs to go through an authorised bank, with the purpose correctly declared, and it’s worth checking current tax collected at source provisions on outward remittances, since these have changed with recent Finance Act amendments and the applicable rate depends on the purpose and amount remitted.

From there, an investor needs either a direct brokerage account with a US-facing broker or a domestic platform that offers access to US markets, and the account opening process typically requires standard KYC documentation along with a US tax form (commonly a W-8BEN) to establish foreign investor status for withholding tax purposes on any US-sourced dividends.

Tax treatment on both sides needs attention too. Dividends from US stocks are generally subject to US withholding tax, and the India-US tax treaty allows credit for that in the Indian return, while capital gains from selling US stocks are taxed in India as per Indian capital gains rules, with the holding period and applicable rates depending on current law.

None of this is complicated once done once, but it does mean the account setup and remittance process should be handled a few weeks before there’s any specific stock or opportunity in mind, not on the day of.

Ashutosh Financial Services helps investors get this groundwork sorted so the actual investment decision isn’t held up by paperwork. Ashutosh Financial Services runs sessions covering the practical steps involved in building US market exposure.