MORE RETAIL INVESTORS BUY GILTS
The Reserve Bank of India’s Retail Direct platform has continued to gain momentum with the number of accounts and secondary market trading volumes registering steady growth. This suggests rising retail investor participation in government securities.
Primary market subscriptions to instruments such as Treasury Bills, floating rate savings bonds, central and state gilts rose 38.2% y-o-y to Rs 9,572.75 crore as on July 27. Total secondary market trading volume in these instruments jumped 163% YoY to Rs 11,003.75 crore, while total holdings of the same instruments increased nearly 70% YoY to Rs 4,051.24 crore.
The number of accounts opened on the portal climbed about 31.2% year-on-year to 3.77 lakh as of July 27, up from 2.87 lakh a year earlier.
Mataprasad Pandey, vice-president, Arete Capital said the platform is becoming the preferred destination for safety-first investors with risk assets underperforming and fixed deposit rates lagging.”
Nikhil Aggarwal, founder and group CEO of Grip Invest, said government securities provide stability and predictability. “The platform is gaining traction as sovereign-backed securities have no credit risk and deliver higher yields,” he said.
He added that many investors are turning to fixed-income assets to diversify and balance their portfolios. “Although fixed deposit rates fetched high interest rates earlier subsequent rate cuts have reduced their appeal,” Aggarwal said.
Deepening Participation
The Retail Direct platform was launched in November 2021 to encourage retail participation in gilts, T-bills, floating rate savings bonds, central and state government securities through primary and secondary markets.
The regulator also launched a systematic investment plan (SIP) route in August 2025 for Treasury bills to participate in the government bond market.
2026-08-10T12:17:21Z
