Zerodha Announces US Stock Trading for Indian Investors: India’s $8.2 Billion Fintech Prepares Global Expansion in 2026

As Indian startups break valuation records and global boundaries, the country’s fintech visionaries are rewriting the rules of investing. Now, all eyes turn to Zerodha—the company set to bridge Indian retail capital with Wall Street for the first time.

Zerodha, the bootstrapped Bengaluru startup that revolutionized retail investing for India’s aspiring middle class, is taking its biggest swing yet—connecting millions of Indian investors directly to US stocks for the first time. The move, announced in late October, marks a new phase for the $8.2 billion fintech, and heralds wider changes for India’s economic ambitions—and the world’s capital markets.

From Kamath Brothers’ Big Bet to Brokerage Behemoth

Founded in 2010 by Nithin Kamath and his younger brother Nikhil, Zerodha was born of frustration. “We simply couldn’t see why investing had to be complicated and expensive for ordinary people,” Nithin, a former trader, once said. Their solution: a digital “discount broker” that cut fees to near zero, radically simplified trading, and obsessed over transparency. The model caught fire just as a new wave of young, upwardly mobile Indians began flocking to the markets.

Today, Zerodha is not only India’s largest and most trusted stockbroker, but also one of its very few privately-held “unicorns” to have never raised outside venture capital. It’s profitable, with an estimated $8.2 billion valuation this year—the highest among Indian startups, according to the Hurun Unicorn Index.

Going Global, Out of Necessity and Ambition

Just weeks after reporting its first-ever revenue and profit decline—amid fresh regulatory curbs on derivatives that shrank market participation—Zerodha went on offense. Its leaders announced that users will soon be able to trade shares of US behemoths such as Apple , Tesla , and Google directly through Zerodha’s digital platform. The product, expected in the first quarter of 2026, relies on India’s GIFT City—a new regulatory hub meant to spur cross-border investment.

The expansion isn’t just a competitive catchup (Indian rivals including HDFC Securities and Angel One have launched similar features). It’s a bellwether moment for how “the next billion” citizens from emerging megamarkets can step on to the world’s financial stage.

Why It Matters for India

For India, this signifies the coming-of-age of its capital markets. Decades of controls on where and how households could invest are being replaced by a new openness. Indian retail investors—long focused on domestic blue chips and rapid-fire option trades—can now diversify abroad, hedge their risks, and join global trends in wealth creation.

For India’s founder class, Zerodha’s global pivot highlights a maturing ecosystem. As domestic regulation tightens and capital remains competitive, the country’s best fintechs see cross-border finance not just as an opportunity, but as a necessity.

Ripple Effects Reaching Wall Street

For the US, Zerodha’s cross-border flow is a preview of things to come. India—a nation where half the population is under 30 and smartphone adoption is soaring—represents a fresh pool of global investors. Over time, that could mean steady inflows into the S&P 500 and popular American ETFs, deeper US-India fintech cooperation, and even greater stakes for Indian retail and HNIs in America’s largest corporations.

“Indian capital is finally getting a passport to go global—not just for billionaires, but for schoolteachers, engineers and college students,” said one Mumbai-based analyst. “And US markets may be just the start.”

A Unicorn That Still Thinks Like a Startup

What makes this story stand out is the Kamath brothers’ unorthodox path. Refusing both venture capital and excessive hype, Zerodha has built a steady growth engine in a market obsessed with moonshots. As India’s only unicorn consistently in the black—and leading by both market share and trust—Zerodha’s next act may have even bigger implications.

As cross-border investing opens up, and capital races around the world at the speed of a tap, the rise of companies like Zerodha is a signpost. The next wave of global investors is not just coming—they’re already here.