The depository is developing technology that will allow instant verification and blocking of securities at the time a sell order is placed, eliminating the uncertainty around whether a retail investor actually holds the bond or would honour the trade.
“Digitising and simplifying the bond sale process for retail will enhance liquidity in the secondary corporate bond market. Currently, it is a tedious and lengthy process often requiring paperwork which discourages investment,”said Vishal Goenka, co-founder of Indiabonds.
He added that stronger financial infrastructure from market institutions could significantly boost retail participa-tion. For years,liquidity has been constrained by the cumbersome process of exiting a bond requiring physical delivery instruction (DI) slips and taking anywhere between three and seven days for transfers between depository players.
Senior officials at the depository confirmed that work is underway following the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) mandate to create a bond-selling platform within a quarter (Q4FY26).They said the institution is actively engaging with bond broker associations to incorporate operational feedback and has already launched two key application programming interface APIs— one enabling brokers to retrieve client demat details across DPs through OTP authentication, and another allowing brokers to receive a debit mandate for a client’s demat account posttrade execution.
The official said the next phase will see enabling of seamless debiting of client accounts based on prior mandates and client confirmation, effectively removing the need for physical paperwork. While discussions are progressing, sources said it’s still early to confirm whether the platform will go live by March-end orthe following quarter.
“Today, selling bonds through OBPs is challenging for customers, as these platforms does not offer active quotes.This leaves sellers stuck in one-to-one negotiations without anonymous trading or guaranteed settlement like in equities,” said Suresh Darak, founder, Bondbazaar.