How to Buy US Stocks Like Apple, Tesla, or Nvidia From India — The Actual Process

The process is identical regardless of which specific US stock you're buying — we're using these three well-known names purely to illustrate the mechanics, not as any kind of recommendation.

A Quick Note Before Starting

This guide uses well-known company names purely because they're commonly searched — the process described applies identically to any US-listed stock. Nothing here should be read as a suggestion that any specific company is a good or bad investment; that determination is entirely a matter of your own research and risk assessment, which this guide doesn't address.

Step 1: Open an Account With an International Brokerage Platform

Choose a platform that serves Indian investors for US stock investing, and complete their KYC process — typically PAN, Aadhaar, and bank account details.

Step 2: Complete Your LRS Remittance

Transfer funds from your Indian bank account to your investing platform account under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, completing the required LRS declaration (Form A2) through your bank. Remember the current ₹10 lakh TCS-free threshold and 20% TCS rate above it for investment remittances, covered in detail in our LRS/TCS article.

Step 3: Confirm Your W-8BEN Is Filed

Most platforms handle this automatically during onboarding — confirm it's been submitted and is current, since this determines your dividend withholding rate (25% versus the 30% default).

Step 4: Search for the Specific Stock

Once your account is funded, search for the stock by its ticker symbol (for example, well-known large-cap tech names each have their own distinct ticker) within your platform's app or web interface.

Step 5: Decide Between a Full Share or Fractional Share Purchase

If the stock's price per share is high relative to how much you want to invest, check whether your platform supports fractional shares — this lets you invest a specific dollar amount (say, $100) rather than needing the full price of one share, which can run into hundreds or thousands of dollars for some well-known companies.

Step 6: Place the Order

Choose between a market order (executes immediately at the current price) or a limit order (executes only at a price you specify or better) — the same basic order types available in Indian stock trading, applied to the US market.

Step 7: Track for Tax Purposes From Day One

Record your purchase date, price in USD, and the INR-equivalent using that date's exchange rate — this record-keeping matters for accurate capital gains computation later and for Schedule FA disclosure in your Indian tax return.

A Simple Process Summary

The Bottom Line

The mechanical process is genuinely straightforward and identical regardless of which US stock you're interested in. The parts that actually deserve careful attention are the remittance/TCS planning beforehand and the tax record-keeping afterward — not the stock search and purchase itself, which most platforms have made simple.