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Informist, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026

By Vaishali Tyagi

MUMBAI – Yields on corporate bonds ended steady in the secondary market across tenures Tuesday, dealers said. This was because investors primarily engaged in requirement-based trades, dealers said. Lack of fresh cues also led to less aggressive bets, they added. Participants shifted their focus on upcoming issuances in the primary market, dealers said.

Investors are taking a wait-and-watch approach, holding off aggressive bets until some cues. "Secondary market activity was better in volume terms but in yields term, it was like any other day, broadly steady as most traders were doing requirement-based trade...as people in market are waiting for some data point which can provide some cue to investors," a dealer at a mid-sized brokerage firm said.

In the secondary market, deals aggregating to INR 126.79 billion were recorded on the National Stock Exchange and BSE combined Tuesday, significantly higher from INR 78.03 billion Monday. Mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds were seen actively trading bonds across tenures. However, a few dealers said that a handful of mutual funds sold bonds due to redemption pressure. Banks and companies were also seen trading but in low volumes, dealers said.

Papers issued by Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Housing and Urban Development Corp., National Highways Authority of India, India Infrastructure Finance, National Bank For Financing Infrastructure And Development, Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corp., Power Finance Corp., Bajaj Finance, Magma Hdi General Insurance Company, Power Finance Corp. were traded the most on the exchanges Tuesday.

Activity in the primary market fell significantly with issuances worth INR 5.65 billion from over INR 75 billion scheduled for Monday. Dealers said bond issuances are expected to pick up going forward. Wednesday, issuances aggregating to INR over 105 billion are scheduled. REC Ltd. plans to raise up to INR 30 billion through bonds maturing on Feb. 18, 2028. Dealers expect coupon to come in the range of 6.85-6.90%. Apart from this state-owned entity, several non-banking financial companies are in line to raise funds Wednesday. 

Bajaj Finance will tap to raise up to INR 30 billion through two bonds. Aditya Birla Capital plans to raise up to INR 10 billion through the reissuance of bonds maturing on Mar. 6, 2028. NIIF Infrastructure Finance has invited bids to raise INR 12 billion by issuing a five-year bond maturing Feb. 27, 2031.

The corporate bond primary market is expected to see a surge in activity, driven by companies, issuers, and investors rushing to meet their financial year-end requirements, merchant bankers said. With board-approved fundraising targets and mandatory corporate debt investment need to fulfill, market participants are aggressively pushing to meet their 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) targets.

UDAY BONDS

In the secondary market, no Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana bonds were traded Tuesday, according to data on the RBI's Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching system.

BENCHMARK LEVELS FOR CORPORATE BONDS

End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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