Dassault Aviation, NVIDIA, to Elbit Systems: Is it possible to buy global stocks on NSE? Explained

Amid buzz about the defence and AI stocks ahead of the India-Israel defence deal, and some previous defence deals like India-Germany defence deal, India-EU defence deal, and India-France Rafale deal, some Indian investors might be interested in buying defence stocks or AI stocks from the global markets, but they had to remain content with the indian defence stocks or Indian AI stocks only. However, Indian investors will now be able to buy global stocks on the NSE.

The NSE has launched NSE IX, which allows Indian investors to buy equities outside Indian markets. This is aimed at providing a structure that allows an Indian market investor to buy stock listed on overseas bourses.

NSE IX is India's leading international exchange, wholly owned by the National Stock Exchange of India. Operating from GIFT City, Gujarat, it is the preferred financial gateway for both inbound and outbound investments.

According to the PTI news agency, the Indian investors will be able to trade across 30 global markets via a global access platform, the Chief Managing Director and CEO of NSE IX, Balasubramaniam V, said on Wednesday.

The NSE IX CMD & CEO further added that NSE IX is currently in a soft-launch phase, with the US being the first market to go live. Access to additional global markets is expected to be rolled out before the end of 2026.

One reason behind this move, Balasubramaniam V, said, “NSE IX trades almost USD100 billion every month, working out to over USD 5 billion average daily trading volume. And if you compare it with how, say, the NIFTY futures contract trades on the domestic market, we are actually double the size. So effectively, we have more than 65-70% market shares with the NIFTY index futures trading size.”

How to buy global stocks from NSE IX?

On how an Indian investor can buy a global stock from the newly soft-launched NSE IX, the CMD & CEO said, "Once verified, investors can remit funds to a designated account in GIFT City, where NSE IX has tied up with a foreign broker that maintains a backup account structure. The Indian trader will not need a demat account to trade on the global access platform."

How much can you invest in global stocks versus NSE IX?

After funds are remitted, within the $2.5 lakh annual limit permitted under the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), investors will see their trading limits reflected in the app. They can then create multiple watchlists and begin placing buy and sell orders in global stocks, he said.

Initially, the focus is on US markets, which account for over 95 per cent of outbound investments by Indian residents. Investors can add leading global companies such as NVIDIA, Apple and Microsoft to their watchlists and trade in dollar-denominated assets, Balasubramaniam said.

The platform supports value-based or fractional investing, enabling investors to purchase a portion of a high-priced stock rather than a full share. For instance, even if a stock trades at several hundred dollars, an investor can buy exposure worth as little as $5, with the fractional holding reflected in the portfolio.

Balasubramaniam added, however, that certain products remain restricted under the LRS framework. Derivatives trading, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets will not be available. All transactions will be fully compliant with Indiaâs regulatory norms.

Extension of tax holiday

Talking about the centre's recent extension of the tax holiday in the Union Budget, Subramaniam said, "Now in this recent budget extending tax holidays for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) units to 20 years provides clear certainty and tax uncertainty is gone."

However, competing centres like Dubai are providing a 50-year tax holiday. Basically, a 20-year extension of the tax holiday gives you a clear roadmap for the business. I expect more players to come, he added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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