Dhan vs Tickertape for US stocks: a 2026 comparison for Indian investors

Two well-known Indian fintech platforms now offer US stock investing. Both use the same regulatory route, the same underlying broker, and target the same retail investor. The question is not whether to use one of them — it is which one fits your situation, and where both fall short.

This article covers the mechanics, the cost difference (it is meaningful), the product differences (they are real), and the gaps that neither platform fills.

What they share: GIFT City, ViewTrade, and the IFSC framework

Dhan and Tickertape both route US stock investing through the GIFT City International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat. The underlying execution and custody infrastructure is ViewTrade International, a Global Access Provider registered with IFSCA — the International Financial Services Centres Authority, which regulates entities operating within GIFT City.

This matters for three reasons.

The regulatory framework is IFSCA, not SEBI. When you invest in US stocks via either platform, that segment operates under IFSCA's jurisdiction. SEBI regulates these platforms for their Indian equity products, but the US stock offering sits in the GIFT City IFSC wrapper.

TCS and LRS treatment. Under the prevailing interpretation of the GIFT City framework, remittances to IFSC units are treated differently from standard overseas remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme. The working assumption used by these platforms — and by many tax practitioners — is that such flows do not attract Tax Collected at Source (TCS) and are not counted against the $250,000 LRS annual cap.

This is a significant benefit if accurate. A 20% TCS on overseas remittances, even if ultimately creditable against tax liability, creates a cash-flow drag that effectively locks capital for months. Avoiding it matters.

The caveat, stated clearly: explicit RBI or CBDT circulars specifically confirming this position for GIFT City equity investing are limited as of mid-2026. The interpretation is reasonable and widely used, but it rests on regulatory framework analysis rather than a direct, unambiguous government circular. Verify with a chartered accountant before moving large amounts. The tax position on GIFT City remittances is an area where the rules and their interpretation are still being worked out in practice.

Both support the same instruments. NYSE and NASDAQ-listed equities and ETFs. Fractional shares. No US stock options on either platform.

US stocks are held with ViewTrade's US custodian. Your holdings are not held in India. They sit with the US-side custody infrastructure that ViewTrade connects to. This is standard for the GIFT City route — it is how the framework works — but it is worth understanding.

Where they diverge

Brokerage: the clearest difference

Dhan charges 0.25% per trade on US stocks. Tickertape charges 0.15% per trade.

That is a 40% lower brokerage rate at Tickertape. In rupee terms, here is what that means at different investment sizes:

Annual investment	Dhan at 0.25%	Tickertape at 0.15%	Annual saving
₹2 lakh	₹500	₹300	₹200
₹5 lakh	₹1,250	₹750	₹500
₹10 lakh	₹2,500	₹1,500	₹1,000
₹25 lakh	₹6,250	₹3,750	₹2,500
₹50 lakh	₹12,500	₹7,500	₹5,000

These figures assume the brokerage applies once on purchase. If you are actively trading — buying and selling within the year — the brokerage applies on both legs. At ₹10 lakh with a 100% annual turnover (you buy once and sell once), the cost is ₹5,000 at Dhan and ₹3,000 at Tickertape, a saving of ₹2,000. At higher turnover, the gap is proportionally larger.

For a buy-and-hold investor making a handful of purchases per year, the annual saving is in the hundreds to low thousands of rupees — not trivial, but not the main decision factor. For an investor making regular purchases across a 10–15 stock US portfolio, the accumulated difference over five years is material.

The worked math at ₹10 lakh per year invested: Tickertape saves ₹1,000 per year in brokerage on the buy side alone. Over five years, that is ₹5,000 saved in brokerage, before compounding. If those savings are themselves invested in US stocks, the actual difference in terminal value is higher.

Dhan: launched June 2026, integrated single-app experience

Dhan launched its US stock product in June 2026. It is very new. That comes with the usual first-mover risks — teething issues, product gaps that get filled over subsequent quarters, and limited track record for the US segment specifically.

What Dhan offers that is genuinely useful: a single app for Indian equity, F&O, and US stocks. If you are already a Dhan user for your Indian portfolio — equity delivery, intraday, options — your US holdings appear in the same portfolio view. One login, one P&L screen, one app.

For investors who trade Indian markets actively and want to add US stock exposure without switching apps or maintaining multiple brokerage relationships, this is a real UX advantage. Portfolio consolidation has value that is hard to quantify in basis points.

Dhan also supports US stock SIPs — recurring investment instructions where a fixed amount goes into a specified US stock or ETF at a set frequency. This is useful for investors who want to run a disciplined dollar-cost averaging strategy into a US index ETF or a handful of US stocks. The SIP instruction handles the periodic investment automatically without requiring manual orders.

Tickertape: research integration as a core differentiator

Tickertape's origin is as a research and screener platform. It built its reputation with Indian equity investors who use its screener, PE band tools, revenue growth filters, and backtesting features. The US stock addition extends that research infrastructure to US equities.

The integrated workflow is Tickertape's strongest argument. An investor can:

1. Run a screener across US stocks — filtering by sector, revenue growth, PE ratios, or other fundamental criteria
2. Compare a US stock's metrics against its US peers and, where relevant, against Indian sector equivalents
3. Look at historical PE bands to assess whether a stock is trading at a premium or discount to its own history
4. Move directly from the research view to placing a buy order

This is meaningfully different from most brokers, where research and execution are separate. The ability to screen for US stocks using the same tools and interface you use for Indian equity screening, and then execute in the same session, reduces friction in the research-to-investment process.

For investors who take a fundamentals-driven approach to stock selection — rather than buying a broad ETF and holding it — Tickertape's screener integration is a material advantage. You are not just executing; you are building conviction using the same platform.

Tickertape also supports peer comparison across Indian and US stocks. If you want to compare Reliance's revenue multiples against ExxonMobil, or HCL Tech against Accenture, the interface supports that in one place.

Full fees comparison

Feature	Dhan	Tickertape
Brokerage (US stocks)	0.25% per trade	0.15% per trade
GIFT City route	Yes — via ViewTrade	Yes — via ViewTrade
IFSCA-registered GAP	ViewTrade International	ViewTrade International
Fractional shares	Yes	Yes
NYSE / NASDAQ stocks	Yes	Yes
ETFs	Yes	Yes
US stock SIP / recurring	Yes	Not confirmed as of July 2026
US stock options	No	No
Integrated screener (US stocks)	No	Yes
Backtesting	No	Yes
PE band / valuation tools	No	Yes
Indian equity in same app	Yes	Yes (separate from trading interface)
F&O in same app	Yes	No — Tickertape is research-first
Single portfolio view (India + US)	Yes	Partial
RSU consolidation	No	No
Schedule FA tooling	No	No
London-listed ETFs (US estate tax)	No	No

Who should choose which

Choose Tickertape if:

You care about brokerage cost and are investing regularly. The 0.10 percentage point difference sounds small but accumulates. At ₹25 lakh per year invested, you save ₹2,500 per year in brokerage — and that gap widens if you are also selling and reallocating.

You use research to pick individual US stocks rather than defaulting to broad ETFs. Tickertape's screener gives you a structured workflow to identify ideas, compare peers, look at valuation history, and then execute — in one place. This is a genuine productivity advantage for fundamental investors.

You do not need your Indian equity and US stocks in one interface. If you run a separate Indian equity account and are comfortable with a distinct US stocks interface, the single-app benefit of Dhan does not apply to you.

Choose Dhan if:

You are an existing Dhan user with meaningful Indian equity or F&O activity. Having your entire portfolio — Indian equity, derivatives, and US stocks — in one app with one login and one P&L view is worth something real. The 0.10 percentage point brokerage premium may be a reasonable price for that consolidation, depending on your trade frequency and investment size.

You want US stock SIPs. If your strategy is disciplined monthly or weekly investing into a specific US ETF or stock — dollar-cost averaging on autopilot — Dhan's SIP feature is a concrete functional advantage that Tickertape does not match as of this writing.

You are cautious about adopting a very new product. Dhan's US stock launch was June 2026 — extremely recent. But Dhan's underlying Indian equity platform is established and operationally proven. The US product is new; the company behind it is not.

A note on portfolio size. Below ₹5 lakh invested per year, the brokerage difference between the platforms is under ₹500 annually. At that scale, the research tools and UX experience matter more than the cost gap. Above ₹20 lakh per year, the brokerage math starts to materially influence the choice.

What neither platform does

This is important context for investors with more complex situations.

US stock options. Neither Dhan nor Tickertape offers options trading on US stocks. If covered calls, protective puts, or options-based income strategies are part of your US equity approach, neither platform supports this as of mid-2026.

RSU consolidation. Employees at US-listed companies who receive RSUs typically have those shares vested through a US brokerage (Schwab, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley) assigned by their employer. Neither Dhan nor Tickertape helps you consolidate those RSU holdings into a single view alongside voluntarily purchased US stocks, or provides tools for planning RSU sell schedules, tax optimization, or concentration management. For RSU-heavy situations — tech employees with significant equity compensation — Rovia is built specifically for this.

London-listed ETFs for US estate tax mitigation. US estate tax applies to non-US persons holding US-situs assets (which includes US-listed stocks and ETFs) above $60,000 at death. The rate above that threshold can reach 40%. One mitigation approach is holding exposure to US equities through Irish-domiciled ETFs listed on the London Stock Exchange — these are not considered US-situs assets. Neither Dhan nor Tickertape offers access to London-listed ETFs. If US estate tax exposure is a concern for your situation, you need a platform that provides LSE access.

Schedule FA tooling. Indian residents with foreign assets are required to disclose them in Schedule FA of the ITR. This requires asset-level data — acquisition date, cost, peak value during the year, closing value, income — for each foreign holding. Neither Dhan nor Tickertape provides a structured Schedule FA export or helper. The standard LRS route via Vested includes Schedule FA helper tooling that partially automates this disclosure. If Schedule FA compliance is a meaningful concern, factor in the manual work required with GIFT City route platforms.

The LRS route alternative. Vested Finance operates via the standard LRS route rather than the GIFT City route. LRS has a $250,000 annual cap and attracts 20% TCS (creditable, but a cash-flow drain). The Schedule FA tooling and reporting infrastructure Vested has built around the LRS route is more mature than what GIFT City route platforms offer. For investors who are not primarily cost-sensitive on TCS — for example, those whose tax liability will absorb the TCS credit quickly — the LRS route's reporting maturity may be worth considering.

The bottom line

Both Dhan and Tickertape bring a legitimate GIFT City-based path to US stocks. The TCS and LRS treatment under the GIFT City framework is the headline benefit, and on that dimension they are identical — they use the same infrastructure.

The actual decision rests on two variables: brokerage cost and what you need from the platform beyond execution.

Tickertape is cheaper by 0.10 percentage points and has a research stack that meaningfully differentiates it for investors who pick individual US stocks. Dhan is more expensive per trade but offers genuine portfolio integration for existing users and a SIP feature for systematic investors. Both launched the US segment in 2025–2026 and have limited track records specifically for the US product.

Neither is the right choice if you need options, RSU management, London-listed ETFs for estate tax planning, or a mature Schedule FA workflow. Know what you need before picking a platform.

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Vested.blog is the editorial publication of Rovia.