The ghost of Harshad Mehta: Is RBI's distrust of brokers hindering retail participation in G-Secs?
Harshad Mehta, a character who would have escaped Gen Z but for an OTT web series, continues to cast a spell, reminding RBI officials in the tower, of the sharp practices of Harshad, his cohorts and later generations of wily brokers in the financial markets.
Down the years, the guile of these bond market intermediaries has bred in the bones of RBI officials a suspicion and distrust towards brokers who once ripped off institutions, helped banks mask their losses in G-Secs and corporate bonds, and had senior bankers and treasurers eat out of their hands. Though their influence has waned — with the regulator throwing new rules after every shock — RBI remains famously wary about brokers.
So much so that brokers are barred from directly dealing on the electronic, screen-based system owned by RBI for G-Sec secondary trades. Called NDS-OM (negotiated dealing system-order matching), orders are matched anonymously, as it happens in the stock market. Direct participants in the market are confined to regulated entities like banks, bond houses, asset managers, insurers and retirement funds — institutions that RBI is comfortable with. Brokers, though regulated by Sebi, remain a dodgy breed in RBI's eyes.
A fortnight ago, Sebi felt it was time for things to change, with New Delhi keen on purchase and trade of G-Secs by retail investors and households. Broaching the idea in a draft circular, the regulator said that to facilitate retail participation in G-Secs and leverage infrastructure of brokerages, brokers should be allowed
