Corporate Debt Market in India: An Overview

Abstract

The debt market is one of the most critical components of the financial system of any economy and acts as a leverage tool in a financial system. The debt market comprises of two segments: government securities market and corporate debt market. Indian debt market is dominated by government securities as compared to corporate debt securities. Indian corporate bonds market is very underdeveloped and illiquid in comparison with the Government securities market and mostly depends on highly safe AAA rated bonds for both issuance and trading. This paper presents an overview of the corporate debt market in India. It is concluded that Indian corporate debt market has shown growth trend in primary market and secondary market as well. There are a lot of challenges available in the market which are major obstacles in the development of the market like lack of information among the investors, high stamp duty charges, lack of innovative debt instruments etc.

Keywords: Government Securities Market, Corporate Debt Market, Zero Coupon Bonds, Private Placement, Over the Counter, Negotiated Dealing System