Home > Blogs > Market News & updates > RBI Enables Retail Investors to Invest in Gilts

RBI Enables Retail Investors to Invest in Gilts

By subhada Published date: 26/02/2021 Category: Market News & updates Views: 835

The RBI, in a recent announcement, has proposed to allow retail investors to directly access its system for placing orders for government securities – “G-Secs” or “Gilts”. G-Secs are government bonds that are backed by the government and are therefore considered to be risk-free. If the RBI is able to execute this plan in such a way that it becomes possible for retail investors to directly invest in the primary and/or secondary market for G-Secs, it will be a significant boon and a good alternative for the retail investor’s short-term funds.

We should remember to always invest only short-term funds (max 2-3 years) in fixed-income assets like fixed deposits, debt funds or Gilts. Investing in longer-term bonds will leave us exposed to inflation risk and/or interest-rate risk.

We should also invest in these securities only on a hold-to-maturity (HTM) basis as these securities (especially the longer-dated ones) can be highly volatile and sensitive to changes in interest rates. If we follow the HTM principle, we can rest assured that we will receive the interest that we were promised.

The success of this proposal will hinge on how easy or difficult it will be for the retail investor to actually transact through the system and also other factors like minimum investment amounts.

Read more: Retail investors can open Gilt accounts with #RBI and access primary and secondary govt bond market

Related Blogs

Investment Philosophy

The Intelligent Investor: Understanding The Aggressive Investor

Benjamin Graham’s book The Intelligent Investor, offers an investment philosophy rooted in discipline. The book may have been first publishe...

Investment Philosophy

The Intelligent Investor: Understanding The Defensive Investor

First published in 1949, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham remains one of the most influential books ever written on investing and...

Investment Philosophy

A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom: Tax Efficiency and Passive Costs

Legendary investor Charlie Munger gave a lecture in 1994 at the University of Southern California titled A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisd...

Market News & updates

A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom: Economics and Competitive Advantage

In his seminal lecture A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom, given at the University of Southern California in 1994, legendary investor Cha...

Schedule a call to discuss your financial goals

Our asset management services are designed to optimize your investments and grow your wealth. We focus on the equity asset class to enable your long term objectives.

Schedule a call with our team

Contact us

Get in Touch to Discuss Your Investment Requirements

      We use cookies.
      Learn more
      Call us Enquire Now
      We use cookies. Learn more