With reference to India, consider the following statements: Retail i

With reference to India, consider the following statements:

  • Retail investors through demat account can invest in ‘Treasury Bills’ and ‘Government of India Bonds’ in primary market.
  • The ‘Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching’ is a government securities trading platform of the Reserve Bank of India.
  • The ‘Central Depository Services Ltd.’ is jointly promoted by the Reserve Bank of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
1 and 2
3 only
2 and 3
This question was previously asked in
UPSC IAS – 2021
Statements 1 and 2 are correct.
Statement 1 is correct: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the ‘RBI Retail Direct’ scheme, which allows retail investors to open a ‘Retail Direct Gilt Account’ with the RBI and invest in Government Securities (G-Secs), including Treasury Bills, GoI Bonds, etc., in both the primary auctions and the secondary market through an online portal.
Statement 2 is correct: Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS-OM) is the main electronic trading platform for G-Secs in India, operated by the Reserve Bank of India.
Statement 3 is incorrect: Central Depository Services Ltd. (CDSL) is one of the two central securities depositories in India (the other being NSDL). CDSL was promoted by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) along with several banks (Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank of India). The Reserve Bank of India is not a promoter of CDSL.
RBI Retail Direct scheme aims to deepen the bond market by allowing direct participation of retail investors. Depositories like CDSL and NSDL hold securities in electronic form and facilitate trading and settlement.