Tesla, Nio, Riot Blockchain are top global picks for Indian investors

Tesla, Nio and Riot Blockchain are the top three most-bought US stocks by Indians, even as passive investments are gaining traction, according to a report by fintech platform Winvesta.

Technology stocks continue to be preferred by most Indians, followed by electric vehicles and blockchain sectors. This indicates how the latter two sectors have gained popularity among Indians in the last year, the UK-headquartered firm said in ‘Winvesta Investor Pulse Report’.

Passive investments are gaining interest among Indian investors, with about 25 per cent investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the Winvesta platform. The majority of investors have invested in QQQ (Nasdaq 100) ETF, followed by VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index), ARKG (ARK Genomic Revolution), SPY (S&P500) and ARKK (ARK Innovation).

“While launching Winvesta, we observed a strong home bias among Indians, which disallows participation in global growth stories. Our objective behind starting Winvesta was to make Indian investors realise the importance of geographical diversification and facilitate seamless overseas investments. In a way, the pandemic was an eye-opener because when Indian markets were not performing well, investors realised the value of investing in overseas markets,” Swastik Nigam, Founder and CEO, Winvesta, said.

“ Today, an average account size of an investor on Winvesta’s platform is about $5,000, with an average transaction of about $800. Investors are aware of the benefits of a well-diversified portfolio, and going ahead, we are confident of gaining more traction from Indian investors,” Nigam added.

Although for many Indians, investing in US is synonymous with popular FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet/Google), they (FAANGs) only make up only 17 per cent of the total stock investments on Winvesta’s platform.