In an age where borders are porous but portfolios remain parochial,Mint Horizons came to Delhi with a bold proposition: it’s time Indian investors stopped thinking domestically and started planning globally. If you want Mint Horizons to come to your city, register here.
The evening began with Neil Borate, Deputy Editor at Mint, setting the tone by framing global investing as more than just a financial decision — it’s a mindset shift. “We’re no longer living in an economy isolated from global trends. Whether it’s higher education, market volatility, or technological innovation — every decision has a cross-border implication,” he said.
From navigating market risk to funding international education, the Delhi edition brought together a diverse group of experts:
- Dhirendra Kumar, Founder & CEO of Value Research
- Piyush Gupta, Co-founder & CTO of Zinc Money
- Elizabeth Roche, Associate Professor at OP Jindal Global University
- Ambassador Dr. Mohan Kumar, Former Indian Ambassador to France
- Ajay Srivastava, Founder of Global Trade Research Initiative
The Power (and Pitfalls) of International Investing
Kicking off the keynote was Dhirendra Kumar, who reflected on how Indian investors — and his own portfolio — have evolved. Kumar shared that nearly 25% of his total assets are now globally allocated, predominantly in Nasdaq 100 and FANG+ ETFs. “I’ve always invested in what I understand — and I understand technology,” he said. His decades-long conviction in the U.S. tech ecosystem has paid off, delivering returns far superior to his Indian mutual fund holdings.
But despite his strong advocacy for global diversification, Kumar cautioned against immediate enthusiasm. Many international ETFs available to Indians today, like FANG+ and Nasdaq 100, trade at a 10–25% premium to their NAV, making them inefficient entry points. You can watch Kumar’s segment and others in the video below,
Make Global Investing a Household Habit
Piyush Gupta, Co-founder & CTO of Zinc Money, presented an alternative, make global investing systematic and aligned with life goals — especially children’s foreign education.
Gupta explained that higher education abroad is no longer a distant aspiration. With over 1 million Indian students studying overseas, the need tosave, invest, and even borrow in USD has become urgent. Zinc Money — a Gift City-based fintech — helps Indian parents do just that. Using their regulatory licenses (RIA, broker-dealer, PSP), they offer goal-based portfolios, dollar wallets, and even international education loans — all within a SEBI-equivalent framework.
Their flagship innovation: aGlobal Target Savings ETF (2031–34) that mimics the lifecycle of an education goal. The ETF starts with higher equity exposure and gradually de-risks toward debt as the education date nears — with no dividend payouts and tax efficiency due to in-ETF rebalancing. “We’re not just enabling investing,” Gupta said, “we’re building a structure around purpose.”
Geopolitics and Tariffs Are Reshaping Global Markets
The event concluded with a power-packed geopolitical panel moderated by Elizabeth Roche, featuring Ambassador Dr. Mohan Kumar and Ajay Srivastava.
Dr. Kumar warned that global trade, once built on multilateral trust and WTO rules, is now shifting towards reciprocal, strategic deals driven by tariff wars and geopolitics. “President Trump’s trade policies have brought a wrecking ball to the WTO,” he said. “But if India acts decisively, this crisis could be our 1991 moment — a chance to reform and plug into disrupted supply chains.”
Srivastava added a reality check. “Last time the U.S. imposed tariffs on China, it ended up importing even more — just rerouted via Mexico and Vietnam. China’s exports rose by $1 trillion. So this strategy doesn’t work. But everyone’s adjusting to Trump anyway.”
The panel also examinedIndia’s recent FTAs with the UK and EU, noting improvements in market access (for textiles, seafood, and whisky), but warned that without deep reform in areas like agriculture, manufacturing, and disinvestment, India risks missing the boat — again.
Global Investing Is Not a Trend. It’s a Toolkit.
From Kumar’s personal portfolio strategy to Zinc’s education-linked investing, and finally to the macro lens of geopolitics, the message was clear:global investing is no longer a luxury — it’s an essential tool for risk management and future planning.
As Neil Borate closed the session, he reminded the audience that discipline, not complexity, drives returns. And in today’s world, thinking beyond borders might just be the simplest step toward financial resilience.