How can an Indian citizen get exposure to global markets?
You can invest upto $200K per year abroad, and yes, you can buy Google as a stock. Consider opening an international account with a broker like interactive brokers (www.interactivebrokers.co.in) which allows you to fund the account from your local Indian account, and then on, buy shares of companies listed abroad. It isn't just ETFs, you have normal mutual funds in India which invest internationally. This could be convenient if you don't already have a depository account and a stockbroker.  Here's a list of such funds, along with some performance data: Value Research - Equity: International: Long-term Performance. However, you should also be aware that in India, domestic equity and equity fund investing is tax-free in the long-term (longer than one year), but this exemption doesn't apply to international investments. Ref: Invest Around the World. There are some ETF's on the Indian market that invest in broad indexes in other countries Here's an article discussing this  Be aware that such investments carry an additional risk you do not have when investing in your local market, which is 'currency risk'  If for example you invest in a ETF that represents the US S&P500 index, and the US dollar weakens relative to the indian rupee, you could see the value if your investment in the US market go down, even if the index itself is 'up' (but not as much as the change in currency values). A lot of investment advisors recommend that you have at least 75% of your investments in things which are denominated in your local currency (well technically, the same currency as your liabilities), and no more than 25% invested internationally.  In large part the reason for this advice is to reduce your exposure to currency risk. Other than the possibility of minimal entry price being prohibitively high, there's no reason why you couldn't participate in any global trading whatsoever. Most ETFs, and indeed, stockbrokers allows both accounts opening, and trading via the Internet, without regard to physical location. With that said, I'd strongly advice you to do a proper research, and reality check both on your risk/reward profile, and on the vehicles to invest in. As Fools write, money you'll need in the next 6 months have no place on the stockmarket. Be prepared, that you can indeed loose all of your investment, regardless of the chosen vehicle.
im hitting the indian market down the street from now on.  Like I said in another comment, have you ever seen an indian mother pick out fruits and vegetables?  she busts out the jewelers loop.   Whole Foods can turn into a robotics factory, i wont be a test subject.    p.s. i am NOT high currently. I've been thinking about this.  Here's what I came up with.  Please let me know what you think.    1. The whole world is on a FIAT money system.  The central banks were all easing together in a coordinated way.  So currencies remain relatively stable relative to each other.... Also, the price of goods isn't rising nearly as quickly as the money supply is being expanded because:   2. The growth of the internet/globalization are deflationary because skilled people in 'poor' countries have access to the global marketplace and are willing to produce far more per dollar than 'rich' country citizens.  3. The growth of inequality is deflationary.  As wealth concentrates at the top, there are fewer and fewer customers who can afford the products/services that are being mass produced.  So there's a mismatch between high supply and low demand.  4. A poor/slow economy (low spending, debt defaults and business/personal bankruptcy) is deflationary.  We treat credit as money, and when debt is wiped out so is the credit that we were accounting for in the money supply.  5. The money created over the last 10 years or so hasn't had a chance to 'trickle-down yet'... it's still tied up in financial market instruments (stocks, bonds, ETFs, etc.) held by, mostly, institutional investors until the next big bubble bursts.   So, there are many deflationary forces to balance out against the money creation. It is more easier if you select a Broker in India that would allow you these services. The reason being the broker in India will follow the required norms by India and allow you to invest without much hassel. Further as the institution would be in India, it would be more easy for resolving any disputes. ICICI Direct an Indian online broker allows one to trade in US stocks. For more details refer to ICIC Direct. Reliance Money also offers limited trading in US stocks. Selecting a Broker in US maybe more difficult as your would have to met their KYC norm's and also operate a Bank account in US. I am not aware of the requirements. For more details visit ICICI Direct website. Refer to http://www.finance-trading-times.com/2007/10/investing-in-us-stocks-and-options.html for a news article. TDAmeritrade or Charlesschwab are good online brokers, however from what I read they are more for US nationals holding Social Security. Further with the recent events and KYC norms becoming more stringent, it would be difficult for an individual [Indian Citizen] to open an account directly with these firms. Please consult a tax advisor.   You may be voilating the FEMA [Foreign Exchange Management Act] and can land into trouble.  Further what you are doing can land up into various other acts as illegal including AML.   Further if there is income generated by Indian citizen in India, he is still liable to pay tax, irrespective of whether you get the funds back into India. Edit: AML is Anti Money Laundering. Your transaction is sure to raise AML triggers as it looks like converting Black Money to White in round about way. Once the triggers are raised, RBI division will investigate further to verify what you are doing. If you are able to prove that this is a valid transaction, you would be OK on AML front. How will Income Tax Know? - If they don't know does not mean you are not liable for tax. - Any suspicious transactions would get investigated and sooner or later Income Tax would know about it and can cause a serious problem. - It is irrelevant where you have kept the money, if you have earned something, its taxable. For it not to be taxable you need to conduct this business differently.  Please consult a tax adviser who will advice you on the tax-ability of this type of transaction. API wise there's just one at the retail level: Interactive Brokers (India). Brokerage is high though - 3.5 bps for F&O and 5 bps for cash.  I've used Sharekhan (good, can get to 2 bps brokerage, trading client software, no API). Also used multiple other brokerages, and am advising a new one, Zerodha http://www.zerodha.com. API wise the brokers don't provide it easily to retail, though I've worked with direct access APIs at an institutional level. yeah i got that pretty much down.  I also want to be able to advantage of our transportation capacity that we already own and perhaps make an extra buck here and there on border spreads.  Just need to wrap my head around how to go about doing that.  Is there a tool out there that'll help me scrub spreads and do a quick analysis on? Yes, there are very lucrative opportunities available by using financial news releases. A lot of times other people just aren't looking in less popular markets, or you may observe the news source before other people realize it, or may interpret the news differently than the other market participants. There is also the buy the rumor, sell the news mantra - for positive expected information (opposite for negative expected news), which results in a counterintuitive trading pattern. Your definition of 'outside your country' might need some redefinition, as there are three different things going on here . . . Your financial adviser appears to be highlighting the currency risk associated with point three. However, consider these risk scenarios . . . A) Your country enters a period of severe financial difficulty, and money markets shut down. Your brokerage becomes insolvent, and your investments are lost. In this scenario the fact of whether your investments were in an overseas index such as the S&P, or were purchased from an account denominated in a different currency, would be irrelevant. The only thing that would have mitigated this scenario is an account with an overseas broker. B) Your country's stock market enters a sustained and deep bear market, decimating the value of shares in its companies. In this scenario the fact of whether your investments were made in from a brokerage overseas, or were purchased from an account denominated in a different currency, would be irrelevant. The only thing that would have mitigate this scenario is investment in shares and indices outside your home country. Your adviser has a good point; as long as you intend to enjoy your retirement in your home country then it might be advisable to remove currency risk by holding an account in Rupees. However, you might like to consider reducing the other forms of risk by holding non-Indian securities to create a globally diversified portfolio, and also placing some of your capital in an account with a broker outside your home country (this may be very difficult to do in practice).