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

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41–50 of 105 posts

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

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Liberalised Remittance Scheme is applicable to Indian residents and not Indian expats whereas Inri is an investment product for Indian expats remitting to India from a foreign country. https://m.rbi.org.in/scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=115

> Indian expats remitting to India But eventually I have to remit back my profit? I will be affected right?

No, since you are an expat, this rule doesn't apply to you while remitting back your profits. Your capital will go back to your NRE account once you exit your investments, (assuming that's where you invested it from) and then you can remit it back from there to your resident bank account using any remittance product

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

#42

Would it make sense to offer this to a wider audience? Why limit it to just Indian expats?

It would, unfortunately, the bank account creation requires PAN card (Indian financial identity document) which you cant get if you dont have any ties to India.

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

#43
post #18
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…

A few comments on this 1. Yes it's true that INR has depreciated vs $. But all of that depreciation has been coming in the zero interest regime we have been in the last decade. If you see the previous decade, INR was flat vs $ and NIFTY also grew more than S&P500. Point here is to say that there are financial cycles and the next cycle is likely going to be different (because of higher interest rates at least in the m…

I have direct experience with this as an NRI. Indian govt charges outbound INR to USD conversion at 5% for amounts above 10k USD [1]. So apart from the rupee depreciation you’d have to account for that if you ever need your money out.

I see the value of your platform and in the past I’ve invested a lot of USD in india and gotten great returns. But when I needed my money out for grad school, I had to pay these outrageous fees. Even the amount exchanged for tuition is taxed at 0.5%, all other transfers at 5%.

My net return on mutual funds investments were not so great on a dollar by dollar terms.

It’s not just me, many (younger) NRIs would prefer to invest in US index funds or if they’re feeling risky invest in vanguard emerging market funds.

Edit: added reference

[1] https://taxguru.in/service-tax/tax-implications-forex-transa...

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

#44
post #37
post #36

This is awesome - exactly the thing I was looking for! Apologies if I missed it but what are the fees for using this service?

We charge a flat 1% advisory fees for all capital invested through us, we have an early bird offer running that waives this off for the first year.

Why so much? It's a large fee.

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

#45
post #43
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few comments on this 1. Yes it's true that INR has depreciated vs $. But all of that depreciation has been coming in the zero interest regime we have been in the last decade. If you see the previous decade, INR was flat vs $ and NIFTY also grew more than S&P500. Point here is to say that there are financial cycles and the next cycle is likely going to be different (because of higher interest rates at least in the m…

I have direct experience with this as an NRI. Indian govt charges outbound INR to USD conversion at 5% for amounts above 10k USD [1]. So apart from the rupee depreciation you’d have to account for that if you ever need your money out. I see the value of your platform and in the past I’ve invested a lot of USD in india and gotten great returns. But when I needed my money out for grad school, I had to pay these outrage…

> Indian govt charges outbound INR to USD conversion at 5%.

I'm sorry, what?

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

#46
post #45
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have direct experience with this as an NRI. Indian govt charges outbound INR to USD conversion at 5% for amounts above 10k USD [1]. So apart from the rupee depreciation you’d have to account for that if you ever need your money out. I see the value of your platform and in the past I’ve invested a lot of USD in india and gotten great returns. But when I needed my money out for grad school, I had to pay these outrage…

> Indian govt charges outbound INR to USD conversion at 5%. I'm sorry, what?

Yes, above 10k USD. So if you need access to your investments above 10k USD you’d have to pay 5% on the extra amount. I was shocked when I found out that my forex transfer for buying a car in Canada was cancelled and I had refill an A2 form with the taxed amount added and sign and scan it. It’s a hellish experience if you’re used to the US banking system.

https://taxguru.in/service-tax/tax-implications-forex-transa...

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

#47
post #37
post #36

This is awesome - exactly the thing I was looking for! Apologies if I missed it but what are the fees for using this service?

We charge a flat 1% advisory fees for all capital invested through us, we have an early bird offer running that waives this off for the first year.

That's too expensive. I'd prefer a monthly/yearly fee.

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

#48
post #13

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

Indian indices have given 14-17% CAGR in the last 5 years. Inflation is around 6-7% (hard to cross verify since there's also a lag here). On tax, India and US (along with 80+ other countries) have a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement, so you dont get taxed twice. Local rules vary in terms of tax declarations though. E.g. In US, IRS mandates all foreign income to be declared. So you file capital gains taxes in India (onli…

[deleted]

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

#49

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 file taxes in India and you need to claim its credit in US. Extra paperwork both sides. Foreign tax credit is not 100%, it is close enough, but you lose small change claiming it back. Then there is lag in selling something and being able to use that money in USD. You need to fill forms, get CA certificates and work with banks to get money back, takes time and takes money to get that done. Maybe the incidental costs are 0.1%, maybe they are 1% if you start counting the time you spend.

Also we can not compare returns directly against Indian equities. I will need to look it up but I believe some stocks are locked to the maximum for foreigners (maybe at 50%) so you can not buy any more unless a foreigner sells ... although the number of such stocks may be limited, if you can not buy and sell like an Indian, your returns can not be comparable. They may incidentally come out better, or they may incidentally come out worse.

In my personal experience working with 3 advisors (all companies managing thousands of crores = close to a billion dollars //* should cross check *// of total client funds), my returns never matched their benchmarks, and there was always some explanation, but never a match to their company wide returns for all clients.

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

#50
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Indian expats remitting to India But eventually I have to remit back my profit? I will be affected right?

No, since you are an expat, this rule doesn't apply to you while remitting back your profits. Your capital will go back to your NRE account once you exit your investments, (assuming that's where you invested it from) and then you can remit it back from there to your resident bank account using any remittance product

If the money goes back to my NRE account, then I (as a PAN card holder) can myself have an NRE account, tied to a brokerage firm like Zerodha and I can trade and manage my money there myself much more efficiently and at negligible cost?

What is the value proposition you are offering by charging 1% management fee?

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