Shcil Gets Nod To Hawk Rbi Relief Bonds

The Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL), the country's largest share custodian, has received the go-ahead from the government to retail the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 9 per cent Relief Bonds.

With this development, SHCIL becomes the country's first financial intermediary to bag the mandate to market government securities. At present, only public-sector banks are allowed to retail these products. The custodian has set August 1, as the kick-off date for launching the product. In the next phase of its foray into government securities, the corporation plans to develop a secondary market for the product.

Confirming this to Business Standard, SHCIL managing director and chief executive officer B V Goud said, "We have received the formal approval of the government to market the 9 per cent Relief Bonds and are in the process of beefing up our Nagpur offices, which will be the headquarters for this operation." An official government notification to this effect is expected to be published within a fortnight.

 

The RBI's central accounts section, which handles government accounts, is headquartered in Nagpur and as such SHCIL would be required to coordinate all major activities related to marketing of relief bonds from there, Goud said. The custodian's Nagpur offices would be initially manned by a three-member team and later expanded to five.

Mumbai has been chosen as the initial launch market for the product and in the first year, the custodian is looking at roping in about 200 investors, said divisional manager, finance, Padmaja Wardakar.