Reserve Bank to soon launch app to enable retail investors to participate in govt bonds

Mumbai: The RBI on Friday announced the launch of a mobile app to enable retail investors to participate in government securities (G-Secs) or government bonds market.

RBI Retail Direct Scheme, launched in November 2021, gives access to individual investors to maintain gilt accounts with the RBI and invest in government securities.

The Scheme enables investors to buy securities in primary auctions as well as buy/sell securities through the Negotiated Dealing System - Order Matching system platform. “To further improve ease of access, a mobile application of the Retail Direct portal is being developed. The app will enable investors to buy and sell instruments on the go, at their convenience. The app will be available for use shortly,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, while announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal.

The government is planning for gross market borrowing of Rs 14.13 lakh crore for 2024-25. Out of this Rs 7.5 lakh crore, or 53 per cent, is scheduled to be borrowed in the H1.

In a separate announcement, RBI permitted non-bank payment system operators to offer Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallets to encourage its wider use. “Continuing with this approach, it is proposed to make CBDC-Retail accessible to a broader segment of users in a sustained manner, by enabling non-bank payment system operators to offer CBDC wallets,” he said.

This is expected to enhance access and expand choices available to users apart from testing the resiliency of the CBDC platform to handle multi-channel transactions, he said, adding, necessary changes will be made to the system to facilitate this.

Meanwhile, the CBDC transaction volumes have gone down after crossing 10 lakh in late-December 2023, Reserve Bank of India Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Friday.

The overall number of transactions has touched 2.2 crore since the launch of the CBDC pilot on December 1, 2022, Sankar said, adding that the number of participants in the pilot stands at 50 lakh.

“Volumes have not been the same, they have come down,” Sankar said, adding that the target of 10 lakh a day was met earlier on the back of measures such as interoperability with a very popular UPI platform.