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Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

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Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#61
post #58
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LRS and the associated TCS is not applicable to NRIs. I have no idea what you're on about.

I see, my status changed from US tax resident to student in Canada so the taxes now apply. I stand corrected. Still I feel it’s unfair in a globalized economy considering it’s reducing liquidity, as in you have to be a tax resident of some other country to avoid this steep tax. For example if you decide to take a year long sabbatical or retire in, say Portugal, you’d have to pay the tax every time you withdraw money…

> I see, my status changed from US tax resident to student in Canada so the taxes now apply.

If you stay in Canada for more than 183 days in a year, you are deemed a resident of Canada. I don't understand why the tax applies.

> Still I feel it’s unfair in a globalized economy considering it’s reducing liquidity, as in you have to be a tax resident of some other country to avoid this steep tax.

It's not an additional tax. It simply changes when the tax is collected.

> For example if you decide to take a year long sabbatical or retire in, say Portugal, you’d have to pay the tax every time you withdraw money for rent and groceries. . The tax only applies if you have an Indian income of more than 15 lakh rupees and you are not a tax resident elsewhere. If you retire in Portugal, this does not apply to you.

Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we know about PFIC taxation and help investors with Mark-to-Market Accounting. Further, Inri provides tax support as part of the product offering, thereby abstracting the pain of tax reporting.

Arent ETFs tracking Indices a better option rather than Index Funds itself because of the PFIC rules?

exactly, my cpa cited PFIC reporting rules as doubling the cost of my file

Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#65
post #16

A few comments and advice on investing in India. The target audience for this would know this, but it's useful to be reminded. INR (Indian Rupee) depreciates on average about 4% each year against USD (US Dollar). When you look at the gains from investments in India in USD terms, it would be lower due to the continuously weakening currency. As an emerging market and one with a still-developing stock market, the return…

To add, insider trading and financial misreporting is rampant in Indian stocks. Just look at the recent Hindernberg report on Adani as a starting point. The shocking aspect is that this is accepted as the norm. US stock markets and regulations are not without fault but they are leagues better than stocks in countries like India and China. Oh and to add on to another excellent point you brought up - Indian regulations…

The same Hindernberg, that is banned from doing reports in the US? this seems more like a case of the pot calling the kettle ...

Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#66

"We found a lot of other Indian expats in the same situation as us - wanting to invest in India for financial and emotional reasons, but unable to do so easily or consistently. We wished a simple product existed to solve for this online. We couldn’t find one, so we built it." Simple products do exist which provide exposure to passive indexes for India equities in USD. Any NRI in US can invest in these ETFs at reasona…

1. Their tracking error (because of frequent currency transactions + cash requirements) cumulates to a large underperformance vs investing directly. In the last 5 years, there's a cumulative return of 14% for INDY vs 69% for NIFTY. Even accounting for currency depreciation and remittance charges, the $ adjusted return for NIFTY is at least 2x.

Even active funds like WAINX, EPGIX havent beaten investing directly over the long run. You can compare these with NIFTY growth % - USD/INR growth % - two-way currency transaction charges to confirm.

This is a fair option for anyone who cant access the Indian markets directly, but for Indians with PAN card, the efficiency of investing directly is much higher.

2. Depth of funds is still not as good as in the Indian market. India has 8000+ mutual funds listed, with specific allocations available to mid cap, small cap, thematic (tech vs pharma vs consumer vs infra), equity-debt hybrid etc.

Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#68

What are the inflation adjusted returns for investments in the indian market? What are the tax implications?

Looking at last 5 years is not correct (responding to sibling comment for this para). It is very short term and does not cover the time periods when India does not grow. Back of the envelope calculation shows a 10 X growth over past 20 years which averages to about 12% returns. Give back 5% in rupee depreciation and we are talking about 7% in USD terms. But it comes at additional cost. Accounting costs. You need to f…

Over the last 20 years, NIFTY has had a CAGR of 15%. Currency depreciation was 3% every year. So a net gain of 12%. Compared to this, S&P500 CAGR was 7%.

We are not talking about stock picking here, since that is anyway individual investor dependent. Plus not all stocks have a foreign counterpart. So funds end up becoming a better diversified alternative.

We make the accounting experience simple and online as well but I'd definitely want to know more about your experience, if you are open to chat, feel free to fill the form on the website and we'll reach out

Re: Launch HN: Inri (YC W23) – Wealthfront for Investing in India

#69
post #59
post #16

A few comments and advice on investing in India. The target audience for this would know this, but it's useful to be reminded. INR (Indian Rupee) depreciates on average about 4% each year against USD (US Dollar). When you look at the gains from investments in India in USD terms, it would be lower due to the continuously weakening currency. As an emerging market and one with a still-developing stock market, the return…

1. INR Depreciation: A seasoned investor (assuming US investor) must cover this risk by shorting his INR position. This way, he only collects the alpha of the Indian stock market while remaining neutral to the fluctuations of the INR. 2. Indian Taxation: This has been the trend in almost every country. The taxes do not matter if the yield is still higher than your Western yield. It'll pay for itself. 3. Money Outflow…

Agreed with points on tax and repatriation, that is a core part of the service. On the depreciation, most of the depreciation has happened in the zero interest rate environment, which is unlikely to hold true in the medium term. But yes, agreed with the solve there of hedging the currency risk independently, cost of hedging has to be baked in though.

If you are interested in the product, do check out the website / fill the form and we will reach out

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