Cabinet approves launch of Bharat Bond ETF

The cabinet today has given the approval to launch Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Fund or Bharat Bond ETF, said the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Bharat Bond ETF would be first corporate bond ETF to be launched in India. Then finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced a plan to launch a bond ETF in his 2018-2019 budget speech.

Retail investors will be allowed to invest in Bharat Bond ETF. “Bharat Bond ETF is targeted at ‘aam janta’ or ‘aam aadmi.' Retail investors will be able to invest as low as Rs 1,000 in these bonds,” Sitharaman said.

The details of companies in the ETF will be finalised after the discussion with the relevant parties soon, the finance minister said.


The finance minister claimed that Bharat Bond ETF will deepen the debt market in India. She said, “Umbrella bond ETF will diversify the investor base.”

“Bharat Bond ETF will provide additional money for PSUs and other government organisations,” added the finance minister.

The Bharat Bond ETF will be a basket of bonds issued by state firms or any government organisation, and it will be traded on the exchange. Each ETFs will have a fixed maturity date and will track underlying index on risk replication basis, said the finance minister. Bharat Bond ETF is likely to have two maturity series: three and 10 years.

Details of the first tranche of the ETF will be announced soon.