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Groww US Stocks (2026): Fees, Taxes and How to Start

Groww's US route runs through Groww IFSC at GIFT City with Alpaca as the US broker: 0.10% brokerage or $1 an order, fractional shares from $1, zero account fee, and the LRS, TCS and tax bill that follows.

By LetsInvest Research Desk · Updated 19 Oct 2026

Quick answer. Groww offers US stocks and ETFs through Groww IFSC at GIFT City, regulated by IFSCA, with Alpaca as the US broking partner. You can buy fractional shares from $1, and Groww charges 0.10% brokerage per executed order or $1, whichever is higher. Account opening and maintenance are free. LRS, TCS and Indian tax rules apply exactly as they do on any other US route.

What Groww actually offers

This is not a US brokerage account you open yourself. Groww connects you to one: its pricing page describes the account as an Alpaca trading account opening, and a Groww help article names Alpaca Securities as the US broking partner. The Indian side is Groww IFSC Private Limited, registered as a broker dealer (IFSC/BD/2022-23/0009) and a Global Access Provider (IFSCA/GAP/BD/2026-27/013) at GIFT City.

Shares sit with the US broker-dealer, not in an Indian demat, and Groww says they are protected under SIPC insurance up to $500,000, including up to $250,000 for cash claims. That covers the broker failing. It does not cover a stock falling.

Worth knowing: Groww ran an earlier US offering through ViewTrade Securities and later wound it down. Parts of its help centre still describe that old setup — a ViewTrade partner, a four-bank funding list and a note that new US-stock activation is “paused”. The live terms are the ones on groww.in/us-stocks and groww.in/pricing/us-stocks.

Check availability before you plan around it

Groww's marketing and pricing pages are live and quote current fees, but the activation help article still carries a paused note from the older route. If US stocks do not appear under your profile in the app, the feature has not been switched on for your account yet. Budget for that gap rather than assuming same-day access.

Who can use it

  • Resident Indians funding the account under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme. Groww's own funding flow is netbanking-based, which is the resident-Indian LRS route.
  • You need an active Groww account. Groww's help centre says new users must activate their Indian stocks account first.
  • The older account-opening article lists two documents: PAN and an address proof, plus a bank account for USD transactions. Treat that list as indicative — the current app journey drives the paperwork.
  • Groww does not publish separate NRI, joint-account or HUF terms for the US route. If any of those apply to you, confirm eligibility in the app before you fund anything.

How to start

  • 1. Open the Groww app and go to your profile section.
  • 2. Tap Add money next to your US Stocks balance, or start the US stocks activation journey from the same screen.
  • 3. Complete the activation. Groww creates the trading account with Alpaca. There is no activation charge, and Groww's help centre says accounts go live in less than 24 hours after the application.
  • 4. Add dollars by netbanking under LRS, then buy shares or dollars' worth of a stock.

Groww has published an HDFC walkthrough (October 2026): you pick your bank, finish the netbanking steps — customer ID, netbanking or debit card, then OTP — inside a five-minute window, and follow the status in the app and the confirmation email.

What you can buy, and what you cannot

  • Stocks: thousands of NYSE- and NASDAQ-listed companies.
  • ETFs: top index ETFs, including S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 trackers.
  • Fractional shares: yes. Anything under one share counts as fractional, so you can order by dollar value. Groww's page says you can start from $1.
  • Intraday: not on the table. Groww's help centre says intraday trading of US stocks is not allowed because of US regulatory requirements, so this is a delivery-and-hold route.
  • Dividends: credited to the US brokerage account after US withholding tax is deducted.

What it costs

  • Brokerage: 0.10% per executed order or $1, whichever is higher. Charged on buys and sells, with no maximum.
  • GST: 18% on the brokerage amount.
  • SEC fee: 0.00206% of the sale value, sell side only.
  • FINRA fee: $0.000195 per share, capped at $9.79, sell side only.
  • CAT fee: $0.000003 per share, both buys and sells.
  • Forex conversion: at your bank's rate — Groww charges nothing on deposits or withdrawals, but the bank's markup is where the real cost sits.
  • Funding: Groww charges zero. Groww's help centre ranges the bank's outward-remittance service charge at ₹500 to ₹1,000, on top of the bank's forex rate, and banks typically mark up the live rate. The site's verified range for that markup across Indian banks is 0.5% to 1.5%.
  • Account opening and AMC: both $0. Groww also advertises zero fixed and zero hidden charges.

Groww rounds differently from other brokers. Fees are computed on the exact executed quantity, including fractions, with no share rounding; each fee type is then aggregated per account per day and rounded up to the nearest cent. On a single trade that is a cent or two. On many small trades in a day it adds up.

The same trade on Groww

Buy 100 shares at $90 — a trade value of $9,000:

  • Brokerage 0.10% = $9.00
  • GST 18% = $1.62
  • CAT fee = $0.01 after rounding
  • Total $10.63, so $9,010.63 leaves your balance.

Sell the same 100 shares at $90:

  • Brokerage $9.00 and GST $1.62
  • SEC fee 0.00206% of $9,000 = $0.19
  • FINRA fee $0.000195 × 100 shares = $0.02
  • CAT fee = $0.01
  • Total $10.84, for a net credit of $8,989.16.

Round trip: $21.47 on a $9,000 position, about 0.24%.

The $1 floor is what changes behaviour. On a $100 buy, 0.10% is ten cents, so the floor applies: $1 brokerage plus $0.18 GST and $0.01 CAT — $1.19, or 1.19% of a $100 order. On a $20,000 buy, the 0.10% rate gives $20 of brokerage plus $3.60 GST, because Groww publishes no cap. Zerodha caps its 0.10% brokerage at $10 an order, so on large tickets the flat-cap routes are cheaper while Groww keeps the edge on mid-sized ones. Nobody here charges per-share or per-trade flat pricing the way a US direct broker does.

TCS is not a fee

Every transfer into your USD balance is an LRS remittance. You can remit up to $250,000 a financial year across all LRS purposes, not just US investing.

Once cumulative LRS remittances cross ₹10 lakh in a financial year, the bank collects TCS at 20% on the amount above that. Remit ₹15 lakh with no other LRS use and TCS is 20% of ₹5 lakh, or ₹1,00,000. It is advance tax, not an extra charge — you adjust it against your final liability or claim a refund. Groww's help centre confirms the bank collects it, not Groww, and that it is tracked against your PAN across banks and purposes.

Tax on gains and dividends

  • Sell within 24 months and the gain is short-term, taxed at your slab rate.
  • Sell after 24 months and it is long-term, taxed at 12.5% without indexation. Groww's own page repeats the same 24-month cut-off.
  • US dividends are taxed at 25% at source under the India-US treaty once you file Form W-8BEN. India then applies the treaty rate, letting you claim credit for the US tax paid.
  • Groww does not deduct Indian tax. You declare the gains, pay any tax due and claim foreign tax credit in your return.
  • Disclose the holdings under Schedule FA in your ITR, even in a year when you do not sell. The disclosure covers the calendar year, not the financial year, and the Income Tax Department expects it.
  • US-listed securities are also in scope of US estate tax above a $60,000 exposure, since India has no estate-tax treaty with the US.

How it compares

  • Groww vs Zerodha: both now route through GIFT City. Zerodha caps brokerage at $10 an order and lets you enter dollar amounts; Groww has no cap but a $1 floor and the same fractional buying. Zerodha's segment launched in beta in October 2026; Groww's current route runs on Alpaca.
  • Groww vs INDmoney: INDmoney is the US-specialist app, and it also offers LSE-listed UCITS ETFs — a second market Groww does not cover.
  • Groww vs a direct US broker: you can open an account with a US broker yourself and skip the Indian intermediary, but LRS paperwork, remittance costs and tax reporting are then entirely yours to manage. Direct brokers are typically cheaper per trade and more flexible on order types.
  • Groww vs Indian feeder funds: no LRS, no TCS, no Schedule FA — but a higher expense ratio and no control over the entry price.

Who it suits

Groww's US route suits someone already on Groww who wants small, regular buys of large US companies and index ETFs without opening a second platform. Fractional ordering makes a $50 or $100 order possible. It fits long-hold investors, since intraday is not allowed and the tax cut-off rewards holding past 24 months.

It suits you less if you trade large tickets often — the 0.10% with no cap is more expensive than a $10-capped competitor — or if you need LSE-listed UCITS ETFs or multi-market exposure.

Sources

Educational content, not tax or investment advice. Groww's fees and availability can change; verify them in the app before you trade.

Affiliate disclosure: LetsInvest earns a commission if you open an account via links on this page — at no extra cost to you. Rankings are editorial and never sold. Read how we make money and our methodology.

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