The direct way to invest in global stocks
The direct way to invest in global stocks
The limits for mutual funds to invest abroad may have been exhausted and new limits will come, eventually. In the meantime, Indian investors can buy shares of foreign-listed companies directly.
It has been a month since mutual funds, providing access to global equity strategies, have stopped accepting new money since they had reached the RBI-defined limit of $7 billion for the mutual fund industry. Until this limit is modified this avenue for investments remains closed.
The ETFs tracking global indices are still trading on the Indian exchanges and can be bought and sold. However, they cannot grow their AUM. It is merely a transfer of ownership interest from one individual to another. There can be no net inflow into the ETFs.
Getting started
This brings to the fore the direct way to invest in the global markets. While US-based Interactive Brokers has been around for several years, in the last few years several investment platforms like Stockal and Vested operating via US-broker DriveWealth have also emerged.