During an AMA with the company’s executive team, founder and CEO Nithin Kamath revealed that broking giant Zerodha will enable its users to buy in US stocks through GIFT City beginning next quarter.

According to Kamath, the launch has been planned for a number of years but has been postponed due to remittance and regulatory issues.  According to Kamath, “US investing is a long-pending request, and we should have something in the next quarter.”

According to CTO Kailash Nadh, the business has redesigned its back-end technologies to improve customer experience and dependability.

Related: Paytm Launches UPI Services for NRIs Across 12 Countries

Bengaluru-based Zerodha, which was founded in 2010 by Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, is still profitable and self-sufficient.  In terms of income, it has always topped the brokerage sector in India.  In FY24, it reported INR 9,372.1 Cr in sales and INR 5,496.3 Cr in net profit.

But in FY25, the company’s top and bottom lines declined for the first time in over ten years.  Due to SEBI’s tightening regulations around futures and options trading, its revenue and profit fell roughly 15% year over year in FY25.

Since Zerodha’s revenue decreased by almost 40% in the first quarter of FY26, it is strategically necessary to diversify into new services like international investment.

Notably, the company first investigated US stock access in 2020 but put the strategy on hold because of the complexity of remittance flows under the RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) and the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

The process is made simpler by the new route via GIFT City.  Notably, Gujarat’s GIFT City is a unique area that functions as an international financial center within India. 

It has a distinct regulator in the International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA), as well as its own set of regulations and tax advantages.

Investing in US stocks is already possible on a number of Indian platforms, including Angel One, INDmoney, CRED-owned Kuvera, HDFC Securities, Axis Direct, and Upstox.

IPO-bound  Groww used to offer US trading, but in early 2024 it stopped doing so due to issues with adding USD funds, hefty withdrawal fees, frequent outages, and money settlement delays.

The Noida-based fintech company’s attempt to refocus on its core payments business following a year of internal reorganization and cost reductions is further strengthened by the international UPI launch.

Paytm strengthened its payments sector earlier this year.  The company had previously expanded into “too many” industries, such as international bets like Australia-based PayPay and verticals like Paytm Insider and short loans.

Currently serving almost 16 million people, Zerodha faces competition from companies like Groww and Angel One, among others.  However, in light of SEBI’s recent regulatory revisions, these players are under pressure.

Kamath stated earlier this month that the company might have to abandon its zero-brokerage strategy and begin charging fees for equity delivery deals in order to “make the business tenable” if the regulator bans weekly options trading.