This industry body will promote industry growth, represent stakeholders to regulators and exchanges, and enhance retail participation in debt securities markets
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, May 29, 2024: Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPPs) have come together to form an industry association named OBPP Association of India to represent and advance industry interest.
The Executive Committee of the OBPP Association was formalized at a members' meeting on May 28, 2024, held at NSE office in Mumbai where more than 20 of the current 27 licensed OBPPs in the country were in attendance. The members and the roles of the Executive Committee are as below:
Chairperson – Aditi Mittal, IndiaBonds
Vice-Chairperson - Suresh Darak, Bondbazaar
Secretary – Tirth Shah, The Fixed Income
Joint Secretary – Nishant Prasad, Wint Wealth
Treasurer – Pranav Inamdar – Trust Securities
Tech Director – Aashish Jindal, Grip Invest
Honorary Member – Ajay Manglunia, JM Finance
Member – Aditya Mehta, BondConnect
Member – Vijay Kuppa, InCred Money
Member – Harsh Punjabee, Smest Capital
Member – Irfan Mohammed, Yubi Securities
OBPPs are regulated by SEBI and are starting to play a significant role in the financial markets in India. For retail investors, they facilitate the buying and selling of bonds and other debt securities on respective online platforms. In addition to technology-enabled debt market access, they educate and empower retail investors to do direct debt investment, provide trading infrastructure, ensure seamless settlement and custody of debt securities, investor support, and avail portfolio management tools.
This industry body will work towards the growth of the fixed-income industry; represent themselves to external stakeholders including regulators, exchanges, clearing houses; and promote growth and deepen retail participation in debt securities markets.
As OBPP Association of India sets its sights on the future, its key objectives will be to deliberate and set industry standards; do networking and collaboration within the industry fraternity, as well as do advocacy and representation. The Association will also promote healthy competition within the industry and ensure that retail investors get the best investment experience. It plans to achieve its developmental goals working through various operational committees including Legal, Membership, Education, Ethics/Governance, Technology and Treasury to enable an overall growth of fixed-income investments by retail and other non-institutional investors.
The formation of this industry body has come at a pivotal moment when SEBI has approved lowering of the face value of private placed listed bonds to Rs. 10,000, from Rs. 1 lakh. It has also implemented streamlining of payments processes as well as use of technology to disseminate information. Earlier, in 2022, the regulator had reduced the face value of such securities to Rs. 1 lakh from Rs. 10 lakh. The regulatory changes are expected to catalyze increased retail participation, bringing more liquidity and stability to the market.
