MTF is one of those things that looks very attractive when you only look at the additional buying power. Instead of putting ₹1 lakh into a stock, you may be able to control a larger position by contributing only part of the value and borrowing the rest. But the right way to think about MTF is not free leverage. It is a borrowing cost attached to an investment.

For example, HDFC SKY currently publishes an MTF interest rate of 12% per annum, or 1% per month. If ₹75,000 is funded by the broker, the interest works out to roughly ₹750 for one month, before brokerage and other applicable charges. HDFC SKY also currently lists ₹20 per scrip for pledging MTF trades. Zerodha currently charges 0.04% per day, or ₹40 per lakh of funded amount. It also charges ₹20 or 0.3% per MTF order, whichever is lower.

Suppose you have ₹1 lakh of your own money and use MTF to buy ₹2 lakh worth of shares. So, ₹1 lakh is your own capital and ₹1 lakh is funded by the broker. With HDFC SKY at 12% p.a., the ₹1 lakh funded amount costs roughly ₹1,000 for 30 days. With Zerodha at 0.04% per day (~14.6% p.a.), the same ₹1 lakh funding costs roughly ₹1,200 for 30 days.

Now assume the stock rises 5%:
₹2 lakh position → ₹10,000 profit
HDFC SKY interest → ~₹1,000
Zerodha interest → ~₹1,200
Profit before brokerage, taxes and other charges → ₹9,000 vs ₹8,800
If the stock falls 5%, however, you lose ₹10,000, and the MTF interest still has to be paid.

So MTF can make sense when the expected return comfortably exceeds the financing cost and the additional risk. But if the stock only makes 5–6% while you're paying a double-digit annualised financing cost, the leverage may not have helped much. The important number is how much the borrowed capital costs you while the position is open and then broker choice becomes more accurate.

The US has proposed a tariff system intended to encourage generic-drug manufacturers to shift production to the United States.

Imported generic medicines would remain duty-free until August 2028. After that, the proposed tariff would rise to 100% and eventually to 200%.

India supplies nearly half of the generic medicines imported into the US.

The tariff proposal follows a US Commerce Department review under Section 232. The review argued that dependence on imported drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients creates risks to US healthcare security.

US pharmaceutical imports more than doubled over 10 years to $214 billion in 2025. Generic medicines account for around 90% of prescriptions in the US.

India supplies 47% of generic drugs imported into the US by volume, or around 30% by value, with Aurobindo Pharma / Gland Pharma to be hit hardest. Gland gets ∼54% revenue from US, Aurobindo ∼47% and Dr Reddy's ∼45% (FY25).

NSE confirmed today (Aug 10) that BSE will replace Wipro in Nifty 50 effective Sept 30.

This was expected. Back in May, Quiddity Advisors had flagged that BSE's Average Float Market Cap (AFMC) was already >1.5x of Wipro's, which is the main trigger for replacement. Wipro has been down 20% in last 6 months and down 27% YTD, while BSE had a monster run - up 3-4% on the day the news first leaked in May.

Now the important part, what happens to Wipro in the immediate aftermath? When a stock is removed from Nifty 50, it doesn't mean the company is bad. It means all passive funds (Nifty 50 ETFs, Index Funds) have to sell it. The number that Axis Capital put up is about Rs 1,870 cr, meaning index funds will need to sell nearly 114.2 million shares of Wipro. Inversely, BSE is estimated to get inflows of ∼₹62,652 crore and index funds are expected to buy ∼15.7 million shares.

What should one do?

History says Nifty exclusion is a sentiment hit, not a fundamental hit. Infosys, TCS, HCL all underperformed before exclusion? No. But stocks like LTIM, Divis, etc. fell 5-8% in the week after exclusion and then recovered over 3-6 months if earnings were okay.

If you are long Wipro for fundamentals, this is noise. If you are trading, don't try to catch the knife till Oct 1st. The passive selling is mechanical - it will happen regardless of price.

If you aree scaling up your swing trades, only 2 things actually matter: how much you pay to borrow (MTF) and how fast you can fire your trades (Basket Orders).

Regarding MTF interest rates, HDFC Sky maintains a competitive 12% (1% per month) per annum (They cut it from 15% to 12% recently) flat interest rate across its supported list of 3,500+ stocks, providing up to 4x leverage. Dhan offers MTF with leverage up to 4x on over 1,000+ approved stocks, but its interest rates operate on a slab structure, generally ranging between 12.5% and 16% per annum, simply put as 0.0342% to 0.0425% per day, depending on the total borrowed amount and account tier. For smaller to mid-sized funding requirements, HDFC Sky's flat 12% rate offers greater predictability and lower interest drag. For eg: If you hold a swing trade for 30-60 days, that extra 0.5-1.5% on Dhan eats your profit. HDFC Sky is predictable. You know exactly what you owe.

When looking at Basket Orders:

Dhan allows users to create unlimited custom order baskets, save multi-leg strategies, and check real-time combined margin requirements (including margin benefits for hedged options positions) before sending all orders to the exchange simultaneously.

HDFC Sky features KART (Basket Orders), which allows users to group multiple stock or derivative orders together. This is integrated directly with their NXTOPTION strategy builder, meaning option traders can select a pre-built hedged strategy (like an Iron Condor) and send the entire basket for execution instantly without building each leg manually.

Dhan offers a superior basket-order experience for advanced technical traders who build custom multi-leg positions from scratch. However, HDFC Sky holds a clear pricing edge on MTF borrowing costs, making it a more economical choice for swing traders holding leveraged equity delivery positions over weeks or months.

If you are a swing trader who holds stocks for weeks/months on leverage, stop overthinking the platform UI. Go with the cheaper money. MTF interest is a silent killer. You can be right on the stock and still be in loss because you paid 16% interest for 3 months.

A year ago, I would have ignored it. Government bank, low expectations, average perception. But the numbers today tell a different story.

NPAs have reduced significantly over the last few years.
Profitability has improved quarter after quarter.
Capital position looks much stronger than before.
Credit growth is picking up.
The valuation is still cheaper than many private banks despite the turnaround.

The biggest reason it is interesting is that markets often reward improving businesses before they become obvious to everyone. Yes, PSU banks can be volatile. Government ownership also comes with its own risks. But if the banking sector continues doing well over the next 2–3 years, I feel UCO Bank could surprise many investors.

I'm not expecting a straight-line rally, and I wouldn't go all-in. But for someone building a diversified portfolio, it looks like one of those asymmetric bets where the downside appears limited compared to the potential upside.

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There is a lot of talk about Global Investing, Fractional Stock Investing, ever since the rupee started decreasing against the us dollars. It does make sense for any versatile investor just looking to make some money. Many apps and brokers were being spoken about, plans discussed, ease of services discussed, with each broker having something better than the other. Today we will look at 2 most talked about platforms - HDFC Sky and Groww.

Whats on Offer: Before we jump into the depths, just take a relaistic look of what is on offer. While HDFC Sky offers Direct US Stocks via its integration o Vested Finance. Groww had access to US stocks via ViewTrade, but the have discontionued it since. Now you will ask about GIFT city, they allowed access to zerodha and groww. GIFT City’s NSE IFSC framework structurally exists for trading unsponsored depository receipts of US companies, it is not a primary, liquid retail avenue on Groww. Retail liquidity is negligible compared to main US exchanges (NYSE/Nasdaq), making direct stock buying on Groww non-viable for average users. Groww users looking for global exposure are essentially limited to domestic mutual funds that invest overseas. HDFC Sky 1 - Groww 0

Funding the Account (LRS Bottleneck): You cant just add funds like you do to purchase indian stocks, you hve to channelise it via LRS, which is easier done when you have an HDFC Account, all digitally, without visiting bank. The Swift charges will still apply and can erase between 3% to 5% of your capital, upfront. Because direct US trading is inactive, there is no native LRS transfer engine for individual foreign shares on the app. Any international exposure on Groww is funded in standard INR via domestic mutual funds. HDFC Sky 2 - Groww 0

If your goal is strictly to buy individual US stocks or ETFs, HDFC Sky is the functional option between the two. If you use Groww, stick to Indian equities or domestic mutual funds, as its direct global investing desk is no longer an active route.

Normally people think their stock market returns are low just because of bad timing, but when they actually download their complete contract notes and do the math, they come to know that the whole "Free Trading" or "Zero Brokerage" thing in India is a massive illusion. Even if your app doesn't charge you a single rupee for delivery trades, you are losing money on every single order via silent friction points that most apps tuck away in their 50-page terms and conditions.

The biggest culprit is DP (Depository Participant) Charges. Every time you sell a stock from your Demat account, you get hit with roughly ₹15 to ₹20 per company, per day, regardless of whether you sold 1 share or 1,000 shares. Combine that with STT (Securities Transaction Tax) which just got hiked up in recent budgets, plus Exchange Transaction Charges (~0.003% of total turnover), 18% GST on your broker’s services, and SEBI turnover fees. If you buy ₹10,000 worth of stock and sell it a week later for the exact same price, you still end up losing close to ₹150 entirely to statutory drag and processing leakage.

This reality usually sinks in the moment someone compares a discount broker's ledger side-by-side with a mainstream platform. For instance, looking at the breakdown on an app like HDFC Sky versus a typical "free" broker reveals exactly where the leaks are. When a gross profit of ₹2,000 on a trade quietly dwindles down to a net payout of ₹1,700 because of auto-square-off penalties, which slap traders with ₹50 + GST if they miss the 3:20 PM intraday cutoff, it becomes pretty obvious how expensive "free" actually is.

Normally people think their stock market returns are low just because of bad timing, but when they actually download their complete contract notes and do the math, they come to know that the whole "Free Trading" or "Zero Brokerage" thing in India is a massive illusion. Even if your app doesn't charge you a single rupee for delivery trades, you are losing money on every single order via silent friction points that most apps tuck away in their 50-page terms and conditions.

The biggest culprit is DP (Depository Participant) Charges. Every time you sell a stock from your Demat account, you get hit with roughly ₹15 to ₹20 per company, per day, regardless of whether you sold 1 share or 1,000 shares. Combine that with STT (Securities Transaction Tax) which just got hiked up in recent budgets, plus Exchange Transaction Charges (~0.003% of total turnover), 18% GST on your broker’s services, and SEBI turnover fees. If you buy ₹10,000 worth of stock and sell it a week later for the exact same price, you still end up losing close to ₹150 entirely to statutory drag and processing leakage.

This reality usually sinks in the moment someone compares a discount broker's ledger side-by-side with a mainstream platform. For instance, looking at the breakdown on an app like HDFC Sky versus a typical "free" broker reveals exactly where the leaks are. When a gross profit of ₹2,000 on a trade quietly dwindles down to a net payout of ₹1,700 because of auto-square-off penalties, which slap traders with ₹50 + GST if they miss the 3:20 PM intraday cutoff, it becomes pretty obvious how expensive "free" actually is.

I had been a UNI Card customer before, during the days it launched, then when they went bust, they asked to destroy cards and asked to wait. I asked them to delist me for time being.

Now when I am applying for their Gold Card, they have been denying me that membership citing all false reasons:

First they said My cibil score is below 750 and I need to buy their 99 rupees plan to learn how to increase my Cibil score. The fact is, my cibil score has never been below 790. I showed them Experian and other website scores to customer care.

Then they said, my salary makes me ineligible. The fact is my salary is in 6 figures.

Finally they said my profile has not been whitelisted as of now and thus they cannot issue me a gold card. Has anyone faced such a scenario??

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I started my US Fractional Stock Investing through IndMoney because I received Free US Fractional Shares, then I got Hooked and decided to go full on. That is when I learnt it has a whole list of step before you actually start with Investing in US. This is a LOOOONG read, but spare some time for it. So here it is:

Most articles about investing in US stocks from India give you a superficial overview. They tell you it's a great idea, but they skip the complex operational realities.

If you don't understand the regulations, the hidden banking fees, and how the tax system functions, you can easily lose a significant percentage of your returns before your stocks even move.

This breakdown uses the integrated workflow of HDFC Sky as a practical baseline to show how traditional banking layers interact with global markets.

The Account Setup & The Security Framework

When you click Invest in US Stocks on an Indian platform, you aren't actually opening an account directly with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Indian platforms function as front-end interfaces, they partner with a US SEC-registered broker-dealer. HDFC Sky integrates directly with Vested Finance (VF Securities) to clear and execute your trades in the US. Your investments are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) up to $500,000 (which includes a $250,000 cap on cash balances). Even if the Indian frontend app or the US broker faces financial distress, your actual stock certificates remain safe under your name.

Moving Money Out of India (The LRS Blueprint)

To trade in US, you need to first convert rupees into dollars and send it across via LRS (Liberalised Remittance Scheme. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows every Indian resident to send a maximum of $250,000 per financial year abroad for investments and expenses.

Executing an LRS transfer means visiting a bank branch, filling out physical A2 forms, and manually stating your investment purpose code. This is where the structural layout matters. If you try to route money from a non-aligned bank account to a foreign broker, you have to navigate manual internet banking nodes and pay a flat outward remittance fee (often ₹500 to ₹1,000 per transfer). HDFC Sky utilizes its direct relationship with HDFC Bank to automate this declaration. The LRS paperwork is signed digitally inside the app, creating an electronic bridge that transfers and converts your funds within 24 hours.

The Hidden Costs of Currency Conversion

Banks and brokers add a markup which is 1% to purchase dollar, that means you start your Investing journey 1% in the negative. Utilizing an integrated banking link allows you to minimize this gap.

Executing Trades & Managing the Tolls

Once your USD lands in your account, you are ready to buy. This is where your ongoing transaction fees apply, and your ticket size determines your ideal platform structure.

Flat Fees vs. Percentage Models

• Percentage-based Fintechs: Many independent platforms charge a scaling fee (e.g., 0.25% of the total trade value). This works perfectly for small investors making $10 or $20 monthly investments.
• Flat-Fee Traditional Platforms: HDFC Sky’s basic plan charges a flat $2.99 per trade (up to 299 shares). If you are buying a micro-fractional share worth $10, a $2.99 fee means you lose 30% of your capital on day one. However, if you are investing a lump sum of $1,500, a flat $2.99 fee represents a minuscule 0.19% drag—making it far cheaper than a scaling percentage fee.

Managing the Indian Tax System

US stock investments are taxable in India, and the rules depend on how you earn your returns. Capital gains from stocks or ETFs held for more than 24 months are taxed as long-term gains at 12.5%, while gains on holdings of 24 months or less are added to your taxable income and taxed according to your income tax slab. Dividends are subject to a 25% US withholding tax before you receive them, but you can generally claim credit for this under the India–US DTAA by filing Form 67 with your Indian tax return. Additionally, if your total foreign remittances exceed ₹7 lakh in a financial year, your bank may collect TCS on the applicable amount. This is not an extra tax, it can be adjusted against your final tax liability or claimed as a refund when you file your ITR.

The Exit Strategy (Bringing Your Money Home)

The final step is the withdrawal phase, which can catch unprepared investors off guard.

When you sell your US stocks, your money sits as cash USD within the clearing broker's system. It does not automatically fly back to India. You can safely leave it there to reinvest without triggering ongoing conversion charges.

However, when you decide to transfer that USD back to your Indian bank account, the US banking network charges a fixed Telegraphic Transfer (TT) Fee, which usually ranges from $5 to $11 per transaction.

Because this is a flat fee, making frequent small withdrawals is highly inefficient. Withdrawing $50 while paying an $11 fee means sacrificing 22% of your cash to the banking pipeline. The optimal approach is to let your global capital compound over multiple years, executing large, infrequent withdrawals to keep your fixed banking costs negligible.