More Stories

Informist, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026

By Vaishali Tyagi

MUMBAI – Yields on corporate bonds rose in the secondary market Friday, tracking the rise in government bonds yield, dealers said. Mutual funds facing redemption pressure sold bonds which led to even more selling, pushing yields slightly higher, they said. According to latest data, the net liquidity absorbed from the banking system by the RBI--a proxy for the liquidity surplus--was at INR 2.52 trillion Wednesday, slightly down from INR 2.62 trillion Tuesday. 

Yields of government bonds rose Friday due to rising tensions between Iran and the US and a jump in crude oil prices. A fall in the rupee against the dollar also weighed on bond prices. Traders placed short bets on gilts to trim risk ahead of the weekend, they said. 

Dealers said there are no major domestic or global triggers in sight, therefore, a few traders are just trading based on their requirement as there are no clear direction to bet on. Investors are taking a wait-and-watch approach, holding off aggressive bets until more cue arrives, they added. "Bond (corporate debt) market was not aggressive due to lack of cues...traders are more active in CDs, and mutual funds are showing interest there," the dealer quoted above said. "Participation remained muted in money markets as well," the dealer said. "Activity in the corporate debt market remained low due to a truncated week, with many traders on leave and money markets shut on Thursday for Shivaji Jayanti," dealers said.

In the secondary market, deals aggregating to INR 77.65 billion were recorded on the National Stock Exchange and BSE combined Friday, lower from INR 112.33 billion Wednesday. Mutual funds, insurance companies and banks were seen actively selling shorter tenure bonds. Pension funds and companies were absent from the market, dealers said. 

Papers issued by IIFL Finance, Anand Rathi Global Finance, National Bank For Financing Infrastructure And Development, Muthoot Finance, Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corp., Kerala Financial Corp., Mahindra And Mahindra Financial Services, Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board and Navi Finserv were traded the most on exchanges Friday.

Bond issuances in the primary market were at INR 106.25 billion Friday, similar to INR 105 on Wednesday. Friday, National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development has scrapped its issue of three-year one-month bonds maturing on Mar. 20, 2029, as investors demanded higher coupon. According to the bid books accessed by Informist, NaBFID received 61 bids totalling INR 46.88 billion, with the coupon ranging from 6.90% to 7.30%. The base issue of INR 10 billion was priced at a yield of 7.15%, against the market's expectation of 7.20% for the whole issue including the greenshoe option. The company officials said that they expected coupon around 7.10%

Monday, issuances aggregating to INR 7 billion are scheduled. Kotak Mahindra Investments Ltd. plans to raise up to INR 5 billion through two bonds. Other issuers include Angel One Ltd., Midland Microfin Ltd., and Ambium Finserve Ltd. 

No Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana bond was traded Friday in the secondary market, according to data on the RBI's Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching system.

BENCHMARK LEVELS FOR CORPORATE BONDS

End

With inputs from J. Navya Sruthi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.