India’s retail bond market needs greater investor education and stronger mechanisms to manage credit risk as online bond platforms expand access to fixed-income products, market participants said at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.
The panel, moderated by SEBI’s Maninder Cheema, featured IndiaBonds’ Aditi Mittal, Wint Wealth’s Ajinkya Kulkarni, Stable Broking’s Harish Reddy and Grip Invest’s Nikhil Aggarwal.
Mittal said technology and regulatory changes have made bonds increasingly accessible to non-institutional investors, but access alone does not mean investors understand the risks involved.
“Accessibility is solved through technology,” Mittal said, adding that the next step was to ensure that investors were educated about the risks associated with different ratings and yields.
She pointed to SEBI’s proposed Riskometer for bonds, which would use colour coding to help investors understand the relationship between a bond’s credit rating, yield and risk. The tool could make it easier for retail investors to distinguish between higher yields and the additional credit risk that comes with them.