Debt distribution is going to be the next big investment category in India
The question we often get asked is why we chose to build distribution rather than wealth management. The answer is, we are not saying “no” to wealth. However, we are saying that distribution comes first, because it’s the larger opportunity - the one that compounds and the one we’re built to win.
Wealth means everything
Wealth traditionally means carrying the full shelf: PMS, AIFs, stocks, MFs, insurance, structured products and more. A bonds-only wealth firm isn’t a wealth firm. Therefore, choosing wealth means becoming a thin generalist on day one and competing against hundreds of thousands of firms who already own the relationships. Choosing distribution means we get to be the best in the world at one thing, and build from there. Bonds distribution is our starting point, and the foundation for everything we build next.
Pedigree wins wealth but product helps win distribution
Wealth businesses are often built on years of relationships and established client books. ..
Distribution is won by the team that acquires users, converts them fastest, and retains them through the product alone. Our core focus for the last four years has been exactly this - product, performance marketing and user acquisition, with customer acquisition cost (CAC) falling while we scale.
Choosing wealth would mean building around a relationship-led model. Choosing distribution means doubling down on the thing we’ve always been the best at.
Wealth doesn’t consolidate, distribution does
Wealth is personal. It scales with relationships. Distribution scales with software, data and product. Self-directed investing is already here, and we’re seeing that behaviour emerge in debt too. Investors want to see the yield, rating and tenor, and decide for themselves.
We’re building BondScanner around exactly that behaviour, one high-trust, recurring use-case in bonds, done exceptionally well. Once that exists, everything can attach to it: fixed-income products, Bond SIPs, insurance, lending and advisory.
The behaviour has already started showing movement
Self-directed investing isn’t a bet on the future; it's already the norm, and our own bond data confirms it:
10-12 crore Indians transact on self-directed platforms today, out of 140 crore - a base built in under a decade and constantly compounding.
More than 80% of our online GTV comes from returning investors.
The 30-day repeat rate has held at 52-56% across ten consecutive cohorts, even as volumes scaled 5X.
Investors want to see the yield, rating and tenor, and decide for themselves, with no RM in the loop. We are a bonds platform, hence our core focus is bonds distribution, done so well that BondScanner becomes synonymous with the very definition of bonds. We intend to own one high-trust recurring use-case to win the mindspace of the investors.
Both the regulator and the supply sides point at distribution
SEBI's OBPP framework is creating a more structured route for retail participation in listed debt. We’re building right into that opportunity. The supply side is pulling in the same direction. Issuers, NBFCs and arrangers need reach, and a platform with repeat retail cohorts can become an important distribution channel.
Distribution monetizes on volume, repeat, and the layers on top, not on spread. The wedge is deliberately low-margin because it’s the acquisition engine for everything that follows. The repeats we’re seeing on BondScanner alongside what we see across other digital distribution businesses, point to strong unit economics and predictable consumer behaviour.
The next large investing company in India is a debt distribution platform, the way the last ones were equity distribution platforms. We’re building it, with the team, the data and the opportunity in front of us.
