Mumbai

National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Ashish Chauhan on Tuesday underscored the urgent need to deepen India’s corporate bond market, saying the country’s ambitious growth trajectory requires a strong and liquid debt market to complement its globally respected equity ecosystem.

“For years, we have discussed the need to deepen the corporate bond market, but the time for action is now more pronounced,” Chauhan said while addressing the inaugural Pan-India Outreach Programme for Corporate Bonds. “India’s growth ambitions and financing needs will not wait.”

Highlighting the structural importance of debt markets, Chauhan said bonds play a critical role in financing long-term national priorities. “Banks are well-suited for working capital and short-tenor credit. Bonds, however, are essential for long-duration nation-building — infrastructure, housing, energy transition, and manufacturing,” he said.

He stressed that strengthening the debt market is no longer optional. “This initiative matters today because deepening the bond market is not a ‘nice-to-have’ anymore; it is a national financing necessity,” he added.

Drawing attention to India’s achievements in equities, Chauhan noted that the country’s stock markets are globally respected, with market capitalisation crossing USD 5 trillion in roughly three decades since the NSE began operations. However, he said similar momentum must now be created in the debt segment.

Chauhan pointed out that debt already dominates capital mobilisation in India, though largely through private placements. “Since FY22, NSE has enabled fund mobilisation of around ₹76 lakh crore, of which approximately ₹60 lakh crore has been raised through the debt platform,” he said.

At the same time, he flagged a significant imbalance in the market structure. “In 2025, public non-convertible debenture (NCD) issuances accounted for barely 0.15 per cent of total debt raised,” Chauhan said, adding that the way forward lies in increasing listed public issuances, encouraging repeat issuers, and building active secondary markets to enable continuous price discovery.

Despite recent reforms, Chauhan said India’s corporate bond market remains shallow by global standards, standing at just 15–16 per cent of GDP. Citing projections by NITI Aayog, he noted that the market has the potential to grow to ₹100–120 lakh crore by 2030.

Reaffirming NSE’s commitment to developing transparent and liquid debt markets, Chauhan said the exchange offers end-to-end support to issuers, from efficient primary issuances through its Electronic Bidding Platform to enhanced secondary-market access via its request-for-quote (RFQ) ecosystem.

“If issuers are prepared to meet the standards of transparency and governance that build trust, NSE will be a steady partner in helping them diversify funding sources, broaden investor bases, extend maturities, and raise long-duration capital at scale,” he said.

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Concluding his address, Chauhan drew a distinction between equity and debt financing. “Equity finances aspirations, but debt finances commitment. Equity can forgive volatility, but debt does not forgive complacency,” he said, adding that when savings flow through trusted bond markets, “capital does more than earn returns — it builds the nation.”