The routes
| What the investor wants | Route |
|---|---|
| Securities listed on India INX or NSE IX: equity, bonds, depository receipts, derivatives | An IFSCA-registered broker dealer that is a member of the exchange. Trades are cleared through the exchanges' clearing corporations and held with an IFSC depository. |
| Funds | Subscription to schemes of a fund management entity registered with IFSCA (see Funds) |
| Foreign-currency deposits, lending, payments | An account with an IFSC Banking Unit (see IFSC Banking Units) |
| Stocks listed abroad | A global access provider (see Global access) |
| Advice, research, distribution | Investment advisers, research entities and distributors registered under the CMI Regulations |
Listed securities must be in dematerialised form and denominated in a specified foreign currency (regulations 7 and 8 of the IFSCA (Listing) Regulations, 2024). The specified currencies are listed in the First Schedule to the IFSCA (Banking) Regulations, 2020, including the US dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen.
Who may invest
- Persons resident outside India, including non-resident Indians, may use all these routes, subject to each product's terms.
- Equity of Indian companies listed directly in the IFSC may be held only by persons not resident in India. Investors from countries sharing a land border with India need prior Government approval (see Direct listing).
- Residents of India participate only to the extent FEMA allows: individuals within the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, and entities under the overseas investment rules. See Residents and the LRS.
Onboarding and documents
Each intermediary must apply the IFSCA (Anti Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing and Know Your Customer) Guidelines, 2022 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002. A non-resident investor should expect to provide:
- identity and constitutional documents, and for an entity, details of its beneficial owners;
- evidence of source of funds and wealth, in proportion to risk;
- tax residence self-certification for FATCA and Common Reporting Standard purposes, because IFSC intermediaries report account information to the tax authorities (see CRS and FATCA); and
- where a tax treaty is to be relied on, a tax residency certificate and the other prescribed documents.
Expect sanctions screening at onboarding and ongoing transaction monitoring. A bank account with an IFSC Banking Unit is usually opened first, so that subscriptions, margins and proceeds move in foreign currency within the IFSC.
Tax
Several exemptions apply to non-residents on specified IFSC transactions under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Each has its own conditions as to instrument, venue, currency and counterparty, and some are narrower than older summaries suggest. For example, the capital gains relief for transfers on an IFSC exchange is tied to listed categories of security and to consideration in foreign currency. Check the exact relief for each instrument on our page on Tax for non-resident investors. Transactions on IFSC exchanges are also outside securities transaction tax, commodities transaction tax and stamp duty, under the exemptions described in Transaction taxes.
An Indian exemption does not settle the investor's tax at home. Take advice in the home jurisdiction too.
Points to watch
- Currency. Keep settlement in foreign currency throughout. A rupee-settled leg can take a transaction outside an exemption.
- The product's own investor rules. Some instruments are closed to residents, some to investors from particular countries, and some funds set minimum investments.
- Foreign markets. Trades on foreign exchanges through global access are not covered by the IFSC exchanges' investor protection, dispute resolution or grievance mechanisms.