Deglobalization

The Deglobalization Portfolio holds US-listed companies that stand to gain as countries move production closer to home and rebuild their own supply chains. In practice that means industrial and electrical equipment makers, factory automation companies, specialty materials producers and capital goods businesses, the firms that get paid when a new plant is built or an old one is modernised. It is a way to invest in reshoring and supply chain change rather than in any single country’s policy. You can see the full list of holdings and their weights once you sign up.

This portfolio may suit you if you think tariffs, supply chain rethinking and domestic manufacturing investment are a lasting shift rather than a passing phase, and you want industrial exposure to it. It suits a long horizon, because factory and infrastructure spending plays out over years. It is less suitable if you want defensive holdings, since industrial companies are cyclical and move with the economy. It also behaves quite differently from technology themes, which some investors like as a balance.

Yes. Resident Indians can invest in the Deglobalization Portfolio through Vested under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which currently allows you to remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year for overseas investments. You open a US investment account through Vested, complete a one-time KYC, and transfer money from your Indian bank account. The shares and ETFs are held in your own account in your name, not pooled in a fund, and you can sell and bring the money back to India whenever you want. Gains are taxable in India depending on how long you hold, so factor that into your planning.

Vested reviews every Managed Portfolio, including Deglobalization, once a quarter. A review does not automatically lead to a rebalance. The portfolio is only changed if the research team concludes that the existing allocation no longer makes sense, for example when a company no longer fits the theme or when the weights have drifted away from what was intended. Managed Portfolios are non-discretionary, which means nothing is bought or sold in your account on its own. You are notified when a change is recommended and you decide whether to approve it. There are no brokerage or transaction charges on rebalancing trades.

Because doing this on your own means working out which industrial and materials companies actually benefit from reshoring, which is less obvious than it sounds. A Managed Portfolio does that groundwork for you: Vested’s research team decides which companies go in, how much weight each one gets, and when something should change. You still own the actual shares and ETFs in your own US account, so you can see exactly what you hold, and this is not a fund unit. It also helps with a problem most people run into on their own, which is quietly ending up with far too much money in one stock. You pay an annual advisory fee on the amount you invest, with no purchase fee, no brokerage on rebalancing trades and no exit load. None of this stops you buying individual US stocks on Vested as well, if you want to do both.

Industrial companies are cyclical, so orders slow when the economy slows and the portfolio can fall with it. The theme itself depends partly on policy, and trade policy can reverse with a change of government or a new agreement. Tariffs cut both ways: they can help a company’s domestic sales while raising its own input costs. Commodity and input prices affect margins directly. Large projects can be delayed for reasons that have nothing to do with demand. Vested tags this portfolio as high risk. Because the holdings are priced in US dollars, your returns in rupees also depend on how the rupee moves against the dollar over the period you stay invested.

There are five steps. First, sign up on Vested and complete your KYC, a one-time process to open your US investment account. Second, add money by remitting from your Indian bank account under the LRS route. Third, open the Deglobalization Portfolio and read through its holdings, risk tag and fee before you commit. Fourth, invest the amount you want. You can start small and add to it over time, and there is no lock-in. Fifth, review it periodically and approve or decline any rebalancing recommendation you are sent. You can withdraw at any time without an exit load.