Indian firm going global
Marcellus Investment Managers
Indian PMS house that wraps a global-stocks dollar portfolio in GIFT City to court NRI money PFIC- and India-CGT-free.
Dedicated NRI team
No
Strategy tenure
GIFT City US$ PMS since Oct 2022
India onshore arc
Onshore active
Hubs
GIFT City, India onshore
Marcellus, an IFSCA-regulated Fund Management Entity and SEC-registered Investment Adviser, runs a US-dollar global-equity strategy (the Global Compounders Portfolio) out of GIFT City that it markets explicitly to NRIs. It offers three access routes at different domiciles and minimums — a GIFT City US$ PMS ($75k, aimed at NRIs), a GIFT City US$ AIF ($150k, for resident Indians) and a Cayman fund ($100k, for eligible non-residents) — all pitched on avoiding US PFIC treatment, Indian capital-gains tax and rupee depreciation.
Why it matters
Marcellus is the purest expression of the GIFT City product play: a boutique manager with no offshore branch that reaches the global Indian purely through a tax-optimised dollar wrapper, leaning on the SEC registration and IFSCA licence as the trust signal. It underlines that for the mass-affluent NRI, the competitive battleground is increasingly the wrapper (PFIC-safe, CGT-free, dollar-denominated) rather than the relationship manager.
By the numbers
~20% p.a. US$
Global Compounders Portfolio returns since Oct 2022 inception, net of fees (self-reported)
Marcellus blog · Jun 2026 · self-reported
The journey
Global Compounders Portfolio — a GIFT City US$ PMS aimed at NRIs
Marcellus launched the Global Compounders Portfolio, a US-dollar PMS in global stocks domiciled in GIFT City with an October 31, 2022 inception. The NRI pitch: a $75,000-minimum GIFT City US$ PMS ('suitable for NRIs'), a $150,000 GIFT City US$ AIF (for resident Indians) and a $100,000 Cayman fund (for eligible non-residents), structured so investors avoid US PFIC classification and pay no Indian capital-gains or securities-transaction tax while sidestepping rupee depreciation. Marcellus is regulated by the IFSCA as a Fund Management Entity (Retail) and registered with the SEC as an Investment Adviser.
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