Zerodha's Nithin Kamath on what's better- FD returns, stocks or this third option

Nithin Kamath on bonds: Bonds so far have been HNI product but Sebi has taken steps to increase participation of retail investors in the corporate bond market.

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath showed his support for bonds which can be a good pick for most Indians investors as per him. Bonds so far have been an HNI product but to increase the participation of retail investors in the corporate bond market, Sebi cut the face value of such debt securities to ₹10,000 from ₹1 lakh.

Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath. (X/Nithin Kamath)

Nithin Kamath wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “Companies can now issue bonds with face value of Rs.10,000. This is a great move that can help attract retail participation in the bonds. With all the changes in the last few years, SEBI has done an amazing job of making bonds accessible to small investors.”

Earlier, he had talked about the non-availability of bonds with small face values and said, “Most bonds are issued through private placements and have face values of ₹10 lakh+. So retail investors were priced out.”

He had then said, “We've always believed that bonds and maybe not stocks are the right stepping stone for most Indians—better than FD returns but lower risk than stocks. But bonds have been an HNI product, and no one sold them to retail. But SEBI has just made some important changes recently.”