Yes. We follow the RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) guidelines. Instituted by the RBI, the LRS is a set of policies that governs the maximum amount and purposes of remittance. Under the LRS, an Indian resident can annually send up to USD $250,000 abroad without seeking approval from the RBI. The LRS has made it easier for Indian residents to study abroad, travel, and make investments in other countries. For more information, you can read more here. For the most up to date regulations you can refer the RBI’s website here. Please see article 6(iii) for specific LRS regulations regarding investments in equity.

For our users there are two types of taxation events: (1) Taxes on investment gains: You will be taxed in India for this gain. You will not be taxed in the US. The amount of taxes you have to pay in India depends on how long you hold the investment. 24 months is the long-term capital gain threshold and the tax rate is 20% with indexation benefit. Below 24 months is short-term capital gain and is taxed according to your income tax slab  (2) Taxes on dividends: Unlike investment gain, dividends will be taxed in the US at a flat rate of 25%. Fortunately, the US and India have a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which allows taxpayers to offset income tax already paid in the US. The 25% tax you already paid in the US is made available as Foreign Tax Credit and can be used to offset your income tax payable in India.

If Vested shuts down, you would still have access to all your cash and securities. Your assets are held at a 3rd party custodian, we do not ever touch or hold your money. We will ensure that direct DriveWealth access is established for you to further buy or sell securities. In the highly unlikely event that both Vested and DriveWealth both shut down, your SIPC insurance kicks in. Each brokerage account opened with Vested is insured by SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) up to $500,000, this includes $250,000 in cash. For more details, please read here.

Share ownership verification works slightly differently in the US than in India. Shares are held by a third-party custodian in the ‘street name’ of the broker rather than the underlying investor. This is why you do not receive direct emails from the custodian regarding your holdings. . As per SEC guidelines, if you want to confirm the share ownership for your Vested account, you can contact DriveWealth, our broker partner, directly at support@drivewealth.com. They will be happy to help.

On the Vested platform you can invest in either full or fractional shares. When your investment is in full shares, our broker partner (DriveWealth) will route the orders to market centers on an Agency basis. When the investment is fractional shares, our broker partner will satisfy the order from its own account, on a Principal basis, at the National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO). NBBO means that DriveWealth cannot add margin to the price. So, if the market price of 1 share of Amazon is $1000, and you purchase 0.1 share of Amazon, you will pay $100 for the 0.1 share. Any orders for both full or fractional shares will be executed via both methods, part as Agent and part as Principal.