More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

By Vaishali Tyagi

NEW DELHI – Yields on corporate bonds remained in a narrow band in the secondary market Thursday as participants shifted their focus to the primary market, especially on bonds issued by several non-banking financial companies and a state-owned bank, dealers said. Trading remained limited to churning of portfolios and a few traders selling bonds across tenures from their kitty ahead of issuances by marquee players on Friday, they said.

Earlier in the day, selling by mutual funds and banks led to a rise in yields on short-term bonds of up to three-year maturity. However, some buying from a few mutual funds and insurance companies pushed levels back to previous levels, dealers said. "Corporate (bonds) market is not so reactive and even traders are bit bearish (these days)...and yields in short-end moved slightly lower due to buying as liquidity is there...but some mutual funds also offloaded papers which kept yields in specific range only," a dealer at a brokerage firm said.

According to latest data, net liquidity absorbed from the banking system by the Reserve Bank of India -- a proxy for the liquidity surplus -- was INR 2.25 trillion Wednesday, down from INR 2.34 trillion Tuesday.

Dealers with other brokerage firms said the secondary market was largely steady as banks and mutual funds bought and sold bonds as per their requirement. The volume of trades in the secondary market was lower, with deals aggregating to INR 120.15 billion being recorded on the National Stock Exchange and BSE combined, against INR 141.59 billion Wednesday.

Papers issued by ICICI Home Finance Co., Power Finance Corp., Vivriti Capital, IIFL Samasta Finance, Spandana Sphoorty Financial, Krazybee Services, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Indostar Capital Finance, Satin Creditcare Network, Bajaj Housing Finance, and National Highways Authority of India were traded the most.

In the primary market, bond issuances rose to INR 90 billion from INR 40.60 billion Wednesday. Canara Bank raised INR 50 billion at a coupon of 7.24% through 10-year Basel-III-compliant additional tier-II bonds maturing on Feb. 27, 2036. The issue was fully subscribed. "Coupon levels was too fine.... EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) must be there to participate," the dealer quoted above said.

"Canara Bank's coupon was finer than expected... though I heard 4,000 crore (INR 40 billion) of the 5,000 crore (INR 50 billion) was allotted to a single investor," a fund manager at a mutual fund house said.

On Friday, issuances aggregating to over INR 140 billion are scheduled. State-owned NABARD plans to raise up to INR 80 billion through three-year one-month bonds maturing on Mar. 29, 2029.

Power Finance Corp. has invited bids to raise up to INR 60 billion through two bonds of different maturities. The company plans to raise up to INR 30 billion through two-year bonds maturing on Mar. 2, 2028 and INR 30 billion by issuing 10-year bonds maturing on Mar. 3, 2036.

Dealers expect NABARD and PFC bonds to do well, with pension funds likely to invest. PFC is expected to get a better coupon than NABARD.

UDAY BONDS

In the secondary market, four Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana bonds worth INR 65.30 million were traded Thursday, according to data on the RBI's Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching system.

* INR 40.30 million of Tamil Nadu's 7.78%, 2029 bond was dealt at a weighted average rate of 6.6160%

* INR 20.00 million of Uttar Pradesh's 8.49%, 2030 bond was dealt at 7.0517%

* INR 3.00 million of Tamil Nadu's 7.70%, 2032 bond was dealt at 7.2608%

* INR 2.00 million of Tamil Nadu's 7.72%, 2032 bond was dealt at 7.2599%

BENCHMARK LEVELS FOR CORPORATE BONDS

End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

With inputs by Aaryan Khanna

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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.