GIFT City Unlocks US Stocks: Understand India-US Trading Differences

• NSE IX launches "Global Access" via GIFT City, enabling Indian residents to invest in US stocks like Apple and NVIDIA under RBI's LRS.
• The new Global Access Provider (GAP) framework requires platforms to operate under IFSCA licenses, with funds converted to dollars at GIFT City.
• In India, retail orders are routed directly to exchanges (NSE, BSE); brokers cannot internally match trades or take opposite sides.
• In the US, brokers like Robinhood often route retail orders to wholesale market makers (e.g., Citadel Securities) instead of direct exchange routing.
• US market makers execute trades from their inventory and pay brokers for order flow (PFOF), a practice not allowed by SEBI in India.