What is ICICI direct?
One of India’s biggest retail stock dealers is ICICI direct. It is a component of ICICI Group. It serves more than 50 lakh users by providing online trading and investing services. Equity, commodity, and currency trading are among the services provided at BSE, NSE, and MCX. An Indian citizen may invest in the US stock market in one of two ways: directly by purchasing stocks, or indirectly through the use of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Direct investments:
A domestic broker with ties to stockbrokers in the US or a foreign broker with a presence in India have two options for opening an offshore trading account under the category of direct investments. In the first case, domestic brokers serve as middlemen for transaction execution by collaborating with brokers in the US. One should be aware that restrictions on the number of trades that can be made or restrictions on investing in specific investment vehicles may exist depending on the brokerage firms. As you are aware; some stocks have excessive prices when converted to Indian rupees, making even one share unaffordable for many investors. One can also purchase a tiny portion of the US market to get around this issue. A fractional share is a portion of a full share and is tradable similarly to a whole share.
Indirect investments:
These can be done by 2 ways that are:
Mutual funds: Let’s start by discussing the mutual fund route. There are two different types of mutual funds that invest in international markets. The first is a fund of funds, a local mutual fund that invests in a foreign mutual fund, and the second is a local mutual fund that invests in a foreign stock. Mutual funds that invest in foreign funds typically have higher expense ratios. A management fee for the underlying overseas fund is charged for fund of funds in addition to the management cost for the Indian fund.
Exchange traded funds or ETFs: Now let’s talk about ETFs. Exchange Exchanged Funds, or ETFs, are similar to mutual funds in that they are essentially a collection of different equities that are traded under one fund. However, unlike mutual funds, ETFs are traded on exchanges with real-time pricing, just way stocks are traded. ETFs can also be used to gain exposure to specific industries by purchasing an ETF that tracks an industry, such as healthcare or energy.
Conclusion: to conclude, yes you can buy US stocks from ICICI direct. But one should never forget to consider various things such as the type of investment they would like to make along with the taxes levied upon them. Various taxes are to be paid in the US as well as India. Along with that one should keep in mind the brokerage fee one is liable to pay. One can also think of investing via NSE IFSC which stands for International Financial Services Centre which also allows one to trade in up to 50 US stocks.
