Covid-19 exposes hurdles of credit market as borrowers shun regulations

Indian policy makers have put a priority on deepening the nation's corporate bond market given the high level of bad loans at local banks

Efforts by Indian policy makers to open up rupee corporate bond sales to more investors took a step backward during the pandemic, as borrowers shunned tighter regulations in the public market in a record dash for funds.

Private bond placements, which restrict the number of investors in a deal, have long accounted for the vast majority of debt sales in India’s local-currency credit market, but they rose to 99% of all offerings this year, the most in at least a decade. A bigger public debt market should help reduce borrowing costs for issuers by increasing competition for deals, and boost