New Delhi, October 9, 2023: Grip, an OBPP-licenced platform for fixed-income investment, has become the first to completely implement a full tech journey of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) Request for Quote (RFQ) API. The RFQ integration on Grip now provides retail investors an opportunity to invest in India’s emerging and booming Corporate Bond and Structured Debt market as easily as investing in stocks, while ensuring all investments are securely settled through the NSE, with the clearing corporations handling fund and securities transfers directly. The integration also allows for more and more investors to explore Bonds and Securitised Debt Instruments offerings by investing small amounts, easily paid through more common methods of payment like UPI and NetBanking.
Grip’s RFQ implementation aligns with SEBI’s goal to boost liquidity in the debt securities market in India. SEBI’s RFQ mechanism effectively addresses challenges, including delayed securities transfers and large initial capital requirements, for debt securities allowing a secure and efficient means to invest in fixed-income instruments for investors.
Grip’s RFQ implementation enables investors to purchase bonds and SDIs at lower investment amounts, often 50% lower. The payment process is streamlined as users can directly transfer funds to the exchange via a payment gateway, eliminating the need to add beneficiaries and ensuring security. Additionally, the time required for securities to reflect in the Demat account has been reduced from two days to just one day, simplifying transaction tracking.
On integrating the RFQ interface, Aashish Jindal, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, stated, “From an investing lens, fixed-income investing provides a more predictable and secure income stream than stocks, and often a more attractive risk-reward. However, traditionally the lack of transparency, due to delays in transferring securities and large capital investments, has steered investors away from investing in debt securities. With the RFQ integration, retail investors can now enjoy all the protections and convenience of buying fixed-income instruments like corporate bonds and SDIs on Grip. With this integration, we’re empowering our users to take control of their investments with confidence, ensuring that they have the tools and resources they need to achieve their wealth creation goals.”
Retail investors can now purchase securities in multiples of just 1 unit, with no large minimum order quantities for SDI. Investors now also have the flexibility to make payments using UPI as a payment mode for transactions or Net Banking from a registered bank account such as HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, Axis, City Union, etc., via NSE’s payment gateway.
“The Indian debt market is poised for growth, and SEBI’s introduction of RFQ mechanism for retail fixed income transactions represents a noteworthy step in addressing investor concerns. Grip’s RFQ implementation has ushered in a new era for online investors, making investing in corporate bonds or SDI as easy, transparent and secure as investing in equities. With the RBI pausing interest rate hikes, market participants are now increasingly interested in investing in debt securities such as LeaseX, InvoiceX, LoanX and BondX to capitalize on high-interest rates,” said Nikhil Aggarwal, Founder and CEO.
Grip will go live with the RFQ integration on October 6, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. and will become the first OBPP-licensed Platform to Implement a full tech-based RFQ journey.