There are four routes. Each one lets you buy a different set of bonds, at a different minimum, and charges you in a different way — and one of them charges you without telling you.
Updated 30 July 20268 min readby Rubin Talati
A retail investor in India can buy bonds four ways: directly from the RBI, through a SEBI-registered online bond platform, through a stockbroker on the exchange, or through a broker-linked data platform that adds market data on top of a broker account. The cheapest route for government securities is RBI Retail Direct, which takes no fee at all. For everything else the honest question is not "which platform" but "how does this one get paid".
| Route | What you can buy | Account needed | Realistic minimum | How it gets paid | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBI Retail Direct | G-Secs, T-bills, state development loans | RDG account with the RBI (no demat) | ₹10,000 | Nothing. The RBI charges no fee | Government paper only, and secondary liquidity is very thin — plan to hold to maturity |
| OBPPs | Corporate bonds and NCDs, some G-Secs | Demat | ₹10,000 typical | Usually the spread — their margin is inside the price you are quoted | You see a curated shelf, not the market, and the cost is not itemised |
| Brokers | Any listed bond or NCD on the NSE and BSE | Demat + trading | ~₹1,000 (one listed unit) | Ordinary brokerage, stated upfront | Execution but almost no bond data — hard to tell whether a quote is fair, or whether the bond trades at all |
| Broker-linked data platforms | Any listed bond, bought through your own broker | Demat + trading (your existing one) | ~₹1,000 (one listed unit) | A flat subscription. No inventory, so no spread | Needs a supported broker, and you still pay your broker's own charges |
Two special cases. The RBI Floating Rate Savings Bond is bought through a bank rather than any of the above (₹1,000 minimum, seven-year lock-in, 8.05% for July–December 2026). 54EC capital-gain bonds from REC, PFC, IRFC and HUDCO are bought on the issuer's own website, with a five-year lock-in and no transferability.
You open a Retail Direct Gilt account with the RBI, place a non-competitive bid in the weekly auction, and buy government securities, treasury bills or state development loans at the auction price. There is no broker, no platform and no markup. The RBI charges nothing.
The trade-off is liquidity. The secondary market on Retail Direct is very thin, so selling before maturity is difficult and you may not get a fair price when you try. It suits somebody buying a specific tenor and holding it to the end. It does not help you at all with corporate bonds, tax-free bonds or sovereign gold bonds, none of which are available there.
SEBI created the Online Bond Platform Provider framework in September 2022 to give retail investors a regulated way to buy corporate bonds. Platforms operating under it include Wint Wealth, GoldenPi, IndiaBonds and Jiraaf. They are genuinely useful: curated inventory, a clean interface, and often a lower entry point than the exchange.
The thing to understand is how most of them are paid. Typically there is no separate fee. The platform sources a bond and offers it to you at a higher price, which means a slightly lower yield to you. That margin is real but it is not itemised anywhere on your contract note, because it was never charged to you as a fee — it was priced in before you saw the number.
None of that makes an OBPP a bad choice. It makes the yield comparison the thing that matters: before you buy, check what the same ISIN is quoted at elsewhere.
Listed bonds and NCDs trade on the NSE and BSE like any other security, so a normal demat and trading account with a broker such as Zerodha or Groww lets you buy them at the live exchange price. Nobody is marking the price up. Brokerage is stated in advance.
The problem is what you are not shown. Brokers are built for equities, and their bond surface is usually a name, a price and very little else. There is generally no order-book depth, no yield computed from the bond's actual cashflow schedule, no payment calendar and no credit history. Guidance written about this route often ends with some version of "check the live bid before buying" — without saying where you are supposed to check it.
A broker-linked data platform is not a separate way to buy a bond. It sits on top of the broker route and supplies the data the broker does not have: live prices and order-book depth per exchange, yields computed from the real cashflow schedule, the payment calendar, and credit rating history.
The structural difference from an OBPP is that this kind of platform does not hold bond inventory and does not sell you bonds. There is nothing to mark up, so there is no spread. You buy at the exchange price through your own broker, the bond settles into your own demat account, and the platform charges a flat subscription instead of taking a cut of the trade.
The trade-offs are real too: you need a broker the platform supports, you still pay your broker's own charges, and you are paying a subscription whether or not you buy anything that month.
| If you want to… | Consider | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Hold a G-Sec to maturity | RBI Retail Direct | No fee and no markup anywhere in the chain |
| Park money for under a year | RBI Retail Direct or a broker | T-bills at auction, or short-dated paper on the exchange |
| Buy a specific corporate bond quickly | An OBPP | Curated inventory and a simple flow — compare the quoted yield first |
| Buy at the market price and see the depth | A broker, plus a data platform | The exchange sets the price; the data layer tells you whether it is fair |
| Save capital-gains tax on property | 54EC bonds on the issuer site | Only route available, five-year lock-in |
What is the cheapest way to buy government bonds in India?
RBI Retail Direct. The RBI charges no fee and there is no intermediary markup. The trade-off is very thin secondary liquidity, so it suits an investor who intends to hold to maturity.
How do OBPPs make money if there is no fee?
Most earn through the price spread. The platform buys a bond and offers it to you at a higher price, so the margin sits inside the price you pay and shows up as a slightly lower yield. It is real, but it is not itemised.
Can I buy bonds through Zerodha or Groww?
Yes. Listed bonds and NCDs trade on the NSE and BSE, so a normal demat and trading account works, at the live exchange price. The limitation is data: brokers show you very little about the bond itself.
What is a broker-linked data platform?
A platform that layers market data and analytics on top of your existing broker account. It does not hold inventory or sell you bonds, so there is no spread in the price. The order goes through your own broker and the bonds settle in your own demat. It charges a subscription instead.
Do I need a demat account to buy bonds in India?
For listed bonds bought through a broker, an OBPP or a data platform, yes. RBI Retail Direct is the exception — it uses a Retail Direct Gilt account with the RBI instead.
Facts, not advice. This page describes how each route works and what it costs. It is not a recommendation to buy any bond or use any platform, and the bond project is not registered with SEBI as an investment adviser, research analyst, broker or Online Bond Platform Provider. Rates and minimums move — verify before you act.