Niti Aayog working to deepen corporate bond markets, says annual report

Niti Aayog is working on proposals to deepen the corporate bond markets to achieve an alternative to bank finance for borrowers, the government think tank said in its Annual Report 2023-24.

The corporate bond market, seen as an alternative to bank finance for borrowers, helps companies to raise long-term funds at competitive costs.

"The vertical is in the process of developing a holistic research buttressed with key policy recommendations to deepen the corporate bond markets to achieve an alternative to bank finance for borrowers," it said.

The report said corporate bond markets are an efficient cost-minimisation process for long-term funding and contribute significantly to financial stability.

"It is a mechanism for supporting the bank for long-term lending against relatively shorter-tenor liabilities and helping the insurance companies and pension fund holders to diversify their portfolios while spreading or distributing the risks and managing the liquidity gap," it added.

The report said Niti Aayog has constituted a Task Force on the Indian Statistical Systems under the Chairmanship of its Vice Chairman to examine issues relating to the Indian Statistical Systems and create a cohesive strategy for leveraging data for governance.

It said the Task Force decided to constitute an Expert Group to conduct in-depth assessments of specific areas and propose solutions, concerning improving survey quality, harmonisation of survey data, and identifying use cases of data.

"Due to the large range of data domains that could be considered, it was decided that the Expert Group conduct a baseline study and analysis in the areas of Nutrition, Labour and Business Statistics," the report said.