What's the difference between a Global Fund and buying US stocks or ETFs directly on Vested?
With a Global Fund, a manager picks the holdings and rebalances them over time. With a stock or an ETF, you make those calls yourself.
A Global Fund is a professionally managed fund that invests outside India, and almost every one on Vested is a UCITS fund.
The structure also changes where you stand on US estate tax. US-listed shares and ETFs count as US assets, and an Indian investor holding more than $60,000 of them leaves an estate tax exposure behind. A UCITS fund registered in Ireland or Luxembourg is not a US asset, even when it holds US shares, so that exposure does not apply.
Both sit inside the same Vested account, both are bought in dollars, and count against the same LRS limit.
What's the difference between "Annualised" and "Absolute" returns of funds in Vested’s Global Funds Screener?
Absolute is the total growth over the window you picked. Annualised is that same growth stated as a yearly rate.
Over a window of exactly one year the two readings are identical. A fund up 60% over three years has an annualised return of about 17%, and those are the same fact stated two ways. Under a year, the table shows absolute only, because a yearly rate built from three months of data is a projection, and three months is too little to project from.
Use Absolute when you want to know what happened. Use Annualised when you are comparing two funds over different windows, because it puts them on the same footing.
What currency are the returns shown in, and does INR to USD conversion change what I actually receive?
Returns are shown in US dollars, and yes, the conversion changes what reaches your bank account in rupees.
Every fund on this shelf is priced and bought in dollars. The figure in the Returns column is the dollar return, before currency conversion, before Indian taxes and before your own charges.
What you actually receive is that dollar return plus (or minus) whatever the rupee did over the same period. A weaker rupee adds to your return in rupee terms, and a stronger rupee takes away from it. Your bank sets the rate in both directions and adds its own markup, which shows on the remittance advice it sends you.
How do I compare an actively managed fund against an index-tracking fund on Vested’s Global Funds Screener?
Sort by Expense ratio, because there is no active or passive switch on the page and cost can be a signal. Index funds usually cluster at the bottom of the 0.20 to 3.03% range and actively managed funds sit above them. Note that, this may not be the case always.
Once sorted, you need to go further from here.
Then use the Category filter, and select one particular category so you are comparing funds with the same group. A global equity index fund and a single-sector active fund do different work, so their returns tell you about the sector more than about the manager. Which is why, looking at the category while analysing expense ratio is important.
With the two on screen, read the Returns column over the longest window both funds have, and ask whether the extra cost bought anything. For more information, click on a fund name to go to its detail page.
How can I invest in Global Funds from India, and what is the minimum?
You can invest under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme. Most funds on Vested start at $50, as you see in the table.
Open a Vested account and complete KYC, which is fully digital and usually takes a few minutes. Transfer rupees from your Indian bank, which takes 12 to 24 hours on a first transfer. Then pick a fund from this page and buy units in dollars.
A few funds set their own minimum higher, up to $5,000, and each fund's minimum sits under the arrow in the Invest column.
Almost all funds allow you to do SIP as well.
Note that opening the account is free, so you can finish KYC first and decide the amount later.
Can NRIs invest through this Global Funds Screener, or is it India-resident only?
The screener itself is open to anyone. There is no login, and every filter, sort and export works before you have an account.
Investing is open to both. An Indian resident invests under LRS, which is where the $250,000 limit and the TCS come in. An NRI invests from a foreign bank account instead, so neither applies in the same way, and the KYC documents differ by country of residence.
Our support team can help you out further. You can find answers to common queries or raise a support ticket here.
Is there a lock-in period, and what does investing cost?
There is no lock-in, and you can sell on any business day. Most funds here charge no entry or exit load. To check a specific fund, switch on the Entry / exit load column from the Show/hide columns button.
The fund's own expense ratio runs from 0.20% to 3.03% a year, and it is taken out inside the fund. The returns in the table are already net of it.
Vested's brokerage on the order is 0.25% on the free Basic plan and 0.15% on Premium, capped at $35 per trade on both.
Your bank then charges you separately for turning rupees into dollars.
When you sell, settlement is usually three business days and some funds take four. After that you can hold the dollars, reinvest them, or withdraw to your Indian bank, where withdrawals in rupees are free above $100.
How are gains taxed, and how do the LRS limit and TCS work?
For an equity fund, holding 24 months or more makes the gain long-term, taxed at 12.5% without indexation, plus surcharge and cess. Selling within 24 months means the gain is short-term, which is added to your income and taxed at your slab rate.
Debt and money market funds can work differently. Section 50AA identifies funds holding more than 65% in debt and money market instruments, and gains there can be taxed at your slab rate however long you hold. Check what the fund holds by clicking on the fund name.
While investing, the LRS limit is $250,000 per person per financial year, and it sits against your PAN. It covers every foreign remittance you make, so a holiday or a tuition payment also counts against the same $250,000.
There is no TCS on the first ₹10 lakh you remit in a year, and 20% applies on the excess for investment remittances. TCS is advance tax; it appears in your Form 26AS, and you can claim it when you file.
Foreign holdings go in Schedule FA of your income tax return every year you hold them, whether or not you sold anything. Gains on sale go in Schedule CG, and Vested's tax documents give you the inputs for both in one download which you can share with your tax advisor.
Rules as of September 2026. Your own position can differ, so check with your tax advisor.
What happens to my investment if a fund closes or merges with another?
Usually in such cases, the fund house has to tell holders in advance and give them a window to exit without charge. Under UCITS rules, that notice period and the right to leave are mandated by regulation.
If the fund merges, your units become units of the receiving fund at the ratio set out in the notice. Your money stays invested throughout, and what changes is the name on the units.
Vested passes the notice on to you when one arrives, and the fund drops off this page once it stops accepting money.