Union Budget proposes measures to deepen corporate debt markets

A number of measures to further deepen bond markets have been proposed by Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 in Parliament on Friday.

The Finance Minister said: "Corporate debt markets are crucial for the infrastructure sector. Though the number and value of bond issuances had gone up, there has been a dip in the last two years. The market is skewed in favour of a private placement," she said.

The Finance Minister said that in order to deepen the corporate tri-party repo market in corporate debt securities, the government will work with regulators -- RBI/SEBI - to enable stock exchanges to allow AA rated bonds as collaterals.

 

User-friendliness of trading platforms for corporate bonds will be reviewed, including issues arising out of capping of ISINs, she added.