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US Stock investing gives Indian residents direct ownership of shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ — everything from Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Alphabet to ETFs tracking the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100. Motilal Oswal facilitates this through its RIISE platform, offering 100% digital account opening, automated LRS remittance, and fractional share investing from as little as $1. Under RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), Indian residents can invest up to $2,50,000 per financial year in foreign assets. Two things most investors don't know: (1) TCS (Tax Collected at Source) is not an extra tax — it is a prepaid tax credit you adjust in your ITR or claim as refund. TCS applies at 20% only above ₹10 lakh remittance in a year. (2) You must disclose all foreign equity holdings under Schedule FA in your ITR — failure attracts penalties under the Black Money Act. Your total return includes both the stock price movement in USD and the INR/USD exchange rate movement — the rupee's long-term depreciation trend has historically added 2–4% p.a. to USD-denominated returns when converted back to INR.
MOSL's RIISE platform handles US account opening digitally — complete KYC, sign the W-8BEN form (which sets your US dividend withholding rate), and link your Indian bank account. As an Indexis client, we guide you through the entire process as an authorised MOSL AP.
Transfer funds in USD from your Indian bank under LRS. Annual limit: $2,50,000 per resident. TCS of 20% is deducted by your bank if your total LRS remittance exceeds ₹10 lakh in the financial year — this is an advance tax credit, not a final tax. Keep your bank LRS declaration form for your records.
Buy full shares or fractional shares from $1. Access individual stocks (Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, Meta) and US ETFs (SPY for S&P 500, QQQ for NASDAQ 100, VTI for total US market). All executed at real-time NYSE/NASDAQ prices.
Monitor your portfolio in both USD (base currency) and INR (effective return after forex). Your actual return is a combination of stock price movement + INR/USD exchange rate movement. A stock that returns 15% in USD delivers ~17-19% in INR if the rupee depreciates 2-4% in the same period.
File ITR-2 or ITR-3 (not ITR-1). Declare all US holdings under Schedule FA. US dividends: 25% TDS withheld by the US — claim Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) in India via Form 67 to avoid double taxation. Capital gains: LTCG (held >24 months) taxed at 12.5%; STCG (≤24 months) taxed at your income slab rate.
Most Indian investors frame US stocks as "diversification" — a defensive hedge. The more accurate framing is strategic access. India has no listed equivalent of NVIDIA (semiconductors + AI infrastructure), Visa/Mastercard (global payment networks), or Netflix (content streaming at scale). These businesses don't exist on NSE. Beyond sector access, there is a structural currency argument: the rupee has depreciated against the dollar by roughly 3-4% per year over the past two decades. A USD-denominated portfolio doesn't just ride US market returns — it also benefits from this systematic depreciation when converted back to INR. Through Motilal Oswal's RIISE platform, Indexis clients invest with full LRS compliance, correct W-8BEN documentation, and an understanding of Schedule FA obligations before they start — not after the CA sends a panic notice in March.
Open Free Account NowMost investors get TCS wrong. It is a tax credit — not an extra cost. Here's the complete picture.
All available via MOSL's RIISE platform. Fractional shares mean you can own any of these from $1 — no need to buy a full share.
iPhone ecosystem, services revenue, $3T+ market cap
Dominant AI chip maker — H100/H200 GPU infrastructure for Gen AI
Azure cloud + Copilot AI integration across enterprise software
Google Search, YouTube, GCP — dominant advertising + AI moat
AWS is the world's #1 cloud platform. E-commerce cash engine.
EV leader, Gigafactory scale, FSD autonomous driving development