How Does INDmoney Make Money? Inside Its US Stocks Business Model

INDmoney has evolved from a financial tracking platform into a broader investment ecosystem where users can track wealth, invest in Indian markets, buy US stocks, access mutual funds and use other financial products from one place.

Among these businesses, US stocks provide one of the clearest examples of how INDmoney turns user activity into revenue.

For an Indian investor, buying Apple, Nvidia or a US ETF involves much more than placing an order. The process requires KYC, international remittance, currency conversion, access to regulated overseas brokers, custody arrangements and tax reporting. INDmoney has built a large part of this journey into its platform, reducing much of the operational friction involved in investing abroad.

Once the user begins trading, INDmoney earns brokerage on those transactions. This makes US stocks an important monetisation layer inside a platform that still offers many tools and services for free.

US stock brokerage creates direct transaction revenue

INDmoney currently charges 0.25% brokerage on US stock trades, subject to a maximum of $25 per trade.

This creates a simple relationship between trading activity and revenue. A $1,000 transaction generates about $2.50 in brokerage, while a $10,000 order reaches the $25 cap.

The value of this model becomes more significant when users invest repeatedly.

A customer who opens a US investing account but rarely trades contributes limited brokerage revenue. A customer who invests every month can generate recurring transaction income over several years. As the active investor base grows, the same infrastructure can support a much larger number of trades.

This makes engagement especially important. The number of opened accounts matters, but the economics improve only when those accounts remain active.

The forex charge is separate from INDmoney's brokerage

US investing also requires Indian rupees to be converted into US dollars, which creates an additional cost for the investor.

INDmoney's own pricing information states that the forex markup is generally charged by the bank handling the conversion rather than being presented as INDmoney's brokerage income.

This distinction matters because the overall cost of a US investment can include several components, but not every rupee paid by the customer becomes revenue for INDmoney.

The clearest monetisation point is the brokerage charged when a US stock transaction is executed.

That makes the business easier to analyse because revenue is directly connected to trading activity rather than to every step in the remittance process.

GIFT City has become an important part of the US investing model

INDmoney's US stocks business has become more strategically important as the company has expanded its infrastructure through GIFT City.

The company operates this part of the business through INDmoney Global IFSC Private Limited, which helps connect Indian investors with the systems required to access international securities.

INDmoney's platform has used relationships with regulated US brokers such as DriveWealth and Alpaca Securities, while its GIFT City structure gives the company a larger role in managing account access, payments, trading connectivity and reporting.

This reduces the number of separate platforms a customer needs to use.

KYC, funding, trading, portfolio tracking and tax-related information can increasingly sit within the same ecosystem. That makes the customer experience simpler, but it also creates a stronger business relationship because more of the investing journey remains under INDmoney's control.

The value of this infrastructure goes beyond convenience. International investing involves regulation, technology, compliance and market connectivity, all of which take time and capital to build.

That creates a higher barrier than simply adding a US stocks tab to a finance app.

Scale matters because brokerage is a volume business

INDmoney says it has more than 3 million US stock accounts and provides access to thousands of US stocks and ETFs.

These are company-reported figures, but they indicate the scale the platform is targeting.

The business becomes more valuable when a larger share of those users trade regularly.

Brokerage revenue is driven by both the number of active investors and how often they transact. If account growth is strong but trading activity remains low, monetisation will remain limited. If users continue investing over time, brokerage can grow without requiring INDmoney to acquire a completely new customer for every transaction.

This is where features such as fractional investing, portfolio tracking, tax reports and integrated funding can support the business model.

Each feature reduces friction around the transaction itself.

The easier it becomes to fund an account, place an order and understand the tax impact, the more likely an investor is to remain active on the platform.

Free financial tools support customer acquisition

INDmoney offers several tools that do not directly generate transaction revenue, including portfolio tracking and financial monitoring features.

These services still play an important role in the economics of the platform.

A user who first joins to track investments may later begin buying Indian stocks, mutual funds or US equities through INDmoney. Once that transition happens, the same user can begin generating transaction or distribution revenue.

This creates a funnel.

The free layer attracts and retains users, while investment products create monetisation opportunities.

The model is particularly powerful when the same customer uses multiple services because the company does not need to rebuild the relationship every time a new product is introduced.

US stocks fit naturally into this strategy because they offer a differentiated investment product with clear brokerage economics.

Indian stocks and distribution create additional revenue streams

US stocks are important, but they are only one part of INDmoney's monetisation model.

The company also operates Indian stock broking and offers mutual funds, IPO access, fixed-income products and other financial services.

Indian equity transactions create another direct brokerage stream. INDmoney's current pricing structure includes brokerage on Indian stock trades, allowing the same customer to generate revenue across both domestic and international markets.

Distribution has also historically contributed meaningfully to the business.

In FY24, distribution services represented a large share of INDmoney's operating revenue, while broking income was still relatively smaller. Since then, the business has been moving towards a wider transaction-led model.

That evolution changes the quality of monetisation.

Distribution revenue depends on selling financial products offered by other providers. Broking creates a more direct relationship between user activity and INDmoney's revenue.

As more investing activity moves onto the platform, transaction-based income can become increasingly important.

Revenue has grown quickly, but profitability has not arrived yet

INDmoney's recent financials show that the company is monetising its user base more effectively than before.

Consolidated revenue from operations increased from about ₹70.4 crore in FY24 to approximately ₹163.8 crore in FY25, meaning operating revenue more than doubled within a year.

Total income reached around ₹213.4 crore in FY25.

However, the company remained loss-making, with its consolidated net loss widening to roughly ₹132.7 crore, compared with around ₹82.6 crore in FY24.

These numbers show the central tension in the business.

Revenue is scaling quickly, but INDmoney is also spending heavily on technology, employees, compliance, distribution and product expansion.

The long-term economics will depend on whether revenue growth can continue while the cost of serving each additional customer improves.

US stocks can become more valuable as the customer base matures

The US investing business has characteristics that can become more attractive over time.

International investing requires specialised infrastructure, which gives INDmoney an opportunity to build stronger customer retention than a basic stock-information platform.

The product can also create recurring behaviour.

An investor who buys US stocks or ETFs every month can generate brokerage repeatedly, while the same customer may also use Indian stocks or other financial products inside the app.

This creates a larger lifetime value from each user.

As the platform matures, growth does not need to come entirely from adding new customers. It can also come from increasing the activity of existing investors.

That distinction is important because acquiring a customer once and monetising that relationship across several years is much more valuable than depending entirely on continuous user acquisition.

What really matters

INDmoney's business is increasingly built around moving users from financial tracking into financial transactions.

The free tools help attract and retain users, but the stronger monetisation begins when those users start investing through the platform.

US stocks show this model particularly clearly.

INDmoney has built infrastructure that allows Indian investors to fund international accounts, access US securities and manage much of the investment journey from one ecosystem. Brokerage then converts trading activity into revenue.

The broader platform adds further opportunities through Indian equities, financial-product distribution and other investment services.

The challenge is that INDmoney is still investing heavily while building this infrastructure. Revenue grew sharply in FY25, but losses also remained substantial.

The next stage of the business will therefore depend less on simply adding features and more on increasing the number of active investors, raising transaction frequency and spreading infrastructure costs across a larger revenue base.

If that happens, the US stocks business could become one of the strongest examples of how INDmoney converts a large financial user base into recurring transaction revenue.