"Global investing" and "US investing" get used interchangeably, and they are not the same thing. An S&P 500 tracker gives you US exposure. Europe, Japan and emerging markets are entirely absent from it.
For many investors that is a reasonable place to stop — the US is the largest and deepest equity market in the world. But if the objective is genuine international diversification rather than US diversification, it is worth knowing that a US brokerage account already reaches considerably further than US-domiciled companies.
Two routes, without opening more accounts
1. American Depositary Receipts
An ADR is a US-listed instrument representing shares in a foreign company. It trades on a US exchange, in dollars, during US hours, and settles like any other US security.
Many large European, Japanese, Latin American and other non-US companies have ADRs. Buying one gives economic exposure to a foreign company through a US-listed wrapper.
Points worth knowing:
- ADR fees. The depositary bank charges a periodic custody fee, often deducted from dividends. It is small but real and does not appear as a headline cost.
- Underlying-country withholding. Dividends may be taxed in the company's home country before reaching you, on top of anything the US applies. Recovering that is often impractical for retail amounts, so treat it as a drag rather than a claimable credit.
- Coverage is partial. Not every foreign company has an ADR, and liquidity varies widely between them.
2. US-listed international ETFs
Usually the more practical route. These are US-listed funds that hold baskets of non-US companies — developed markets outside the US, Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific, emerging markets broadly, or single countries.
They trade like any other US-listed ETF, so no additional account, currency or process is involved. One purchase gives diversified exposure to a region rather than a single company.
See How to Evaluate US ETFs for the criteria that apply to any ETF, all of which apply here too.
What you are actually diversifying
It is worth being precise about what international exposure does and does not achieve.
It diversifies sector composition. Different markets are weighted very differently — Europe carries more industrials, luxury goods and pharmaceuticals; Japan more precision manufacturing and robotics; emerging markets more commodities and domestic consumption. That composition difference is the substantive benefit.
It diversifies economic and policy cycles. Central banks, fiscal positions and demographics differ, and markets respond to their own.
It does not eliminate currency exposure — it changes it. A US-listed fund holding European companies is priced in dollars but its underlying value moves with the euro. You end up with exposure to the underlying currencies regardless of the dollar wrapper, which is a diversification of currency risk rather than a removal of it.
It does not protect against global drawdowns. In sharp worldwide risk-off episodes, correlations rise and most equity markets fall together. Diversification reduces the impact of one market's bad decade; it does not insulate against a bad week everywhere.
Tax and reporting: unchanged
An important simplification: because these are US-listed instruments held in your US brokerage account, the Indian tax treatment is the same as for any other US-listed holding.
- Held more than 24 months: long-term capital gains at 12.5%.
- Held 24 months or less: short-term, at your slab rate.
- Schedule FA disclosure applies, as it does to all foreign assets.
- Remittances are under the LRS, with TCS above ₹10 lakh cumulative.
Dividends need a little more care. Withholding may occur in the underlying company's home country as well as at the US level, and the foreign tax credit position on the underlying-country layer is often not practically recoverable for a retail investor. Worth raising with your CA if international dividend income is material. See Tax on US Stocks in India.
One structural note
A US-domiciled ETF holding international companies is still a US-situs asset for US estate tax purposes, even though its holdings are foreign. Domicile governs situs, not the underlying portfolio. See US Estate Tax for Indian Investors.
How much, and does it belong in your portfolio at all?
A reasonable frame: an Indian investor already has concentrated India exposure through income, property and domestic equity. Adding US exposure addresses the single largest gap. Adding developed-market-ex-US and emerging-market exposure addresses a smaller, incremental one.
Diminishing returns are real here. Going from India-only to India-plus-US changes a portfolio's character substantially. Adding a fourth or fifth regional fund on top does considerably less, while adding cost and complexity.
For most investors the sensible sequence is: establish broad US exposure first, then consider whether a single diversified international fund adds enough to justify itself. See Global Investment Allocation.
Conclusion
A US brokerage account is not limited to US companies. ADRs and US-listed international ETFs reach Europe, Japan and emerging markets without additional accounts, currencies or processes, and with the same Indian tax treatment as any other US-listed holding.
Whether that additional layer is worth having depends on how much diversification you already have. The honest answer for many investors is that broad US exposure captures most of the benefit, and international-ex-US is a refinement rather than a necessity.
See also Why International Investing Matters.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not investment or tax advice. It does not recommend any region, security, ADR or fund. Availability of specific instruments depends on the broker. Tax treatment, including on foreign dividends with multiple layers of withholding, depends on individual facts; rates are stated as of August 2026. Please consult a qualified adviser and read our Risk Disclosure and Disclaimer.