Mutual Funds · Category
Explore & investInternational Funds
Funds that invest in companies listed outside India — diversification across economies and currencies, with risks of their own.
Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
At a glance
- Who typically explores it
- Typically explored by long-term investors whose portfolios are concentrated in Indian assets and who want exposure to other economies, sectors or currencies.
- Time horizon
- Five years or longer, as with domestic equity — with extra room for currency swings.
- Volatility
- High. Adds currency movements and foreign-market events to ordinary equity risk.
A general description of the category. Individual schemes differ — read each scheme’s documents.
Understand
01International Funds
What international funds are
Indian mutual funds can give you overseas exposure in a few ways:
- Fund-of-funds that invest in overseas mutual funds or ETFs.
- Domestic funds that hold a portion of their portfolio in foreign shares.
- ETFs and index funds that track an overseas index.
02International Funds
Why people consider them
India is one market among many. Some industries and companies are listed only abroad, and economies don't move in lockstep. Holding assets in other currencies also changes how your portfolio behaves: when the rupee weakens against the currency you are invested in, the rupee value of your holdings rises — and it falls when the rupee strengthens.
03International Funds
What is different about them
- Overseas investment limits. Indian mutual funds operate within regulatory caps on overseas investment. When those caps are reached, fund houses may pause fresh investments or SIPs into these schemes.
- Layered costs. A fund-of-funds carries its own expenses plus those of the underlying fund. Look at the total.
- Time zones. Underlying markets close at different times, which affects which day's prices your transaction gets.
- Tax. Most international funds are not treated as equity-oriented for Indian tax, so they are taxed differently from domestic equity funds — see the taxation note on this page.
04International Funds
What to check
- What the fund actually holds — one country, a region, a sector or the world.
- The total cost, including the underlying fund's expenses for a fund-of-funds.
- Whether the scheme is accepting new money, and how a pause would affect your SIP.
- How much overlap it has with what you already own.
Investing abroad directly under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme is a separate route with its own rules and tax collected at source.
Ideas to know
How gains are taxed
International Funds: tax in brief
Most international funds do not qualify as equity-oriented for Indian tax, because the 65% test counts only Indian listed equity. Under current rules, gains on such units held for more than 24 months are generally taxed at 12.5% as long-term gains, and shorter-term gains at your slab rate; listed ETFs follow a 12-month holding period. Classification varies by structure — check the scheme’s tax treatment. Tax rules change and depend on your circumstances. This is general education, not tax advice — check the latest provisions or speak to a tax professional.
Schemes in international funds
Live scheme data isn’t connected yet
Before you decide
Risks to understand
Currency risk
A stronger rupee reduces the rupee value of overseas holdings.
Market and country risk
Foreign markets carry their own economic, political and regulatory risks.
Access risk
Industry-wide overseas limits can force schemes to stop accepting new money, interrupting SIPs.
The riskometer, SIPs and common questions
Related
Plan for it
Other categories
Next step
Small decisions compound.
Model a SIP with your own assumptions, size the goal it’s for, or talk to a CompoundX expert about how this category fits what you already own.
Disclosures
Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
Past performance may or may not be sustained in future. Calculators and illustrations on this site use hypothetical assumptions; actual returns may differ.
[To be confirmed by Compliance] Mutual-fund onboarding, KYC and transaction execution are processed through the platform of our investment platform partner, AssetPlus. CompoundX provides education, tools and relationship management, and does not hold client money or units. Registration details, where applicable, are listed on our Disclosures page.
Partner: AssetPlus · Investment platform
CompoundX works with AssetPlus as its investment platform partner. When you choose to invest in mutual funds through CompoundX, account opening, KYC and transaction execution are processed through AssetPlus' platform, which connects to the asset management companies, registrars and other market infrastructure involved.
CompoundX provides the education, financial tools, goal planning and relationship management around those investments. CompoundX does not hold client money or mutual-fund units. [To be confirmed by Compliance]
Registration details for CompoundX and its partners, where applicable, are listed on our Disclosures page.
Risk disclosure
Market-linked investments involve risk, including the possible loss of the amount invested. Past performance does not indicate future results, and the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up.
Deposits, bonds and other fixed-income products carry credit, interest-rate and liquidity risks; returns depend on the issuer honouring its obligations. Insurance is a contract of protection, not an investment. Read every offer document, scheme information document and policy wording carefully before you decide.