Why are equity brokers and regulators increasingly talking about bonds?
For most of the last decade, Indian retail investing had one centre of gravity: equities. Demat accounts, SIPs, IPO subscriptions and, for a substantial share of new investors, options trading. That vocabulary is shifting. Several stockbrokers that built their businesses on equity are adding bond sections to their apps. The market regulator is releasing bond-market consultation papers at a steady clip. Policymakers speak about the corporate bond market with an urgency that was rare five years ago.
The product has become more accessible to retail
For years, a corporate bond was not a retail product, as most carried a face value of ₹10 lakh, which put them out of reach for nearly every individual investor. SEBI brought that down to ₹1 lakh in October 2022, and then to ₹10,000 in July 2024* for privately placed corporate bonds, subject to conditions, while also standardizing the record date for interest and redemption payments.
*Based on SEBI circular dated 3 July 2024. The ₹10,000 face value applies to privately placed debt securities that meet specified conditions, including the appointment of a merchant banker.
Access changed too. SEBI’s November 2022* framework for Online Bond Platform Providers created a regulated channel through which eligible entities could operate as debt-segment stock brokers, offer permitted fixed-income products through online platforms.
The framework has since evolved, including through SEBI’s August 2026 modification to the OBPP framework.
*SEBI circular dated 14 November 2022. The range of products online bond platforms may offer has since been widened, most recently in August 2026.
Once the entry ticket and the plumbing were fixed, the core appeal of a bond became visible to a much wider audience. A bond sets out its scheduled payments, maturity and repayment terms upfront, subject to the issuer meeting its obligations. . For someone who has lived through equity swings, that visibility can have value.
It is worth being equally clear about what a bond is not. It is not risk-free. A bond is only as strong as the company behind it and the terms of the instrument. Its market price moves with interest rates and other market factors, and selling before maturity depends on finding a buyer in the secondary market, which is not assured. Predictable does not mean guaranteed.
The government’s rationale: growth needs a deeper debt market
India's companies already raise a large amount of money through bonds. Corporate bond mobilisation reached ₹9.1 lakh crore in FY26*. But this market remains heavily institutional. Banks, insurers, pension funds and mutual funds hold most of it while direct retail participation remains limited.
*Corporate bond mobilisation for FY26, based on SEBI Annual Report 2025-26 data. This was 8.4% lower than in FY25.
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has put the outstanding corporate bond market at about ₹59 lakh crore, which is roughly 17% of India’s GDP. NITI Aayog has projected that the corporate bond market could exceed to ₹100-120 lakh crore by 2030* provided further structural reforms are undertaken.
*NITI Aayog, “Deepening the Corporate Bond Market in India”, December 2025. It is a projection for 2030, conditional on further reforms, and not the current size of the market.
In our view, the reason policymakers care is structural. Roads, power grids, renewable energy and manufacturing need long-term capital . Banks fund themselves largely through deposits, which can constrain the extent to which they can provide very long-term financing.
A deep bond market can spread that financing across many more savers and can improve market liquidity .
This may explain why the regulatory agenda keeps returning to retail access. In a consultation paper dated 21 August 2026*SEBI proposed a framework for Fixed Income Channel Partners, who would be enlisted with stock exchanges and appointed by online bond platforms, to help distribute fixed-income securities across Tier II, Tier III and rural India. The comparison with the mutual fund distributor ecosystem is instructive. : SEBI Whole-Time Member Amarjeet Singh has also referred to findings from the SEBI Investor Survey 2025** found which showed a significant gap between awareness and actual participation in financial products. . For corporate bonds, awareness was about 10% and usage under 1%**. In our view, closing that gap may require awareness was about 10% and usage under 1%**. In our view, closing that gap may require people on the ground, not only apps.
*SEBI consultation paper dated 21 August 2026. This is a proposal and is not yet in force.
**Based on SEBI Investor Survey 2025.
The macro and regulatory reset
Two shifts over the last two years help explain why many equity-focused brokers have turned toward fixed income.
The first is the reset in derivatives. From November 2024* SEBI tightened the rules for index derivatives, and activity moderated, changing the economics of a segment that had become an important part of many brokers’ businesses.
For many brokers, the question is no longer only how to keep customers trading today. It is also how to build products and relationships that remain relevant over longer periods.
*SEBI circular dated 1 October 2024; measures were phased in from November 2024.
The second is the interest rate cycle. The RBI cut rates through 2025, and the as of the August 2026 policy*, the repo rate stood at 5.25%, with a neutral stance. . Headline CPI inflation rose to 4.82% in August** while the RBI projects FY27 GDP growth at 6.7%* . With global uncertainty, particularly in West Asia, which may feed into oil prices, in our view the rate path from here is data-dependent rather than one-directional.
*Policy repo rate, stance and FY27 growth projection as per the RBI Monetary Policy Statement, August 2026.
**CPI inflation (base 2024) for August 2026 (provisional), based on MoSPI data.
For savers, this raises a practical question about planning income for the years ahead. Bank deposits remain the familiar answer, Rated bonds can be another option to consider. Unlike bank deposits, they are not covered by DICGC insurance and carry credit, interest-rate and liquidity risk.
The choice is not simply between equity and deposits anymore. The fixed-income landscape itself is becoming broader.
What this means for investors
The new attention on bonds is welcome, but attention is not understanding. As more platforms and brokers offer fixed income, in our view three habits matter more than any single product.
Look through the yield to the issuer. A higher coupon usually signals higher credit risk. Read the rating, the rating rationale and who is actually borrowing.
Consider tenure against your investment horizon. Understand when the bond matures and how that compares with when you may need the money. Longer-duration bonds can also be more sensitive to changes in interest rates.
Diversify across issuers. Spreading money across several issuers and sectors reduces the impact of any one of them running into trouble, although diversification does not eliminate the risk of loss.
India's equity culture helped teach millions of people how to invest over the last decade. In our view, the task for the next decade may be helping them learn how to allocate. Bonds can be an important part of that shift, and the whole ecosystem, from regulators to brokers to platforms like ours, shares the responsibility of building that growth on understanding. That is the direction we are building BondScanner towards.
