Bondbazaar Review
An independent, sourced look at Bondbazaar for Indian retail bond investors — registration, what it really costs, payout track record and the risks the platform doesn’t lead with.
Bondbazaar is a genuinely regulated bond platform. Bondbazaar Securities Pvt Ltd is a SEBI-registered stock broker (INZ000303236), an active Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP) on both NSE (member 90247) and BSE (member 6768), and a CDSL depository participant in its own right, so bonds settle into your own demat account. It pitches itself differently from most bond apps: instead of a small curated shelf, it offers a two-way "marketplace" of thousands of listed bonds that you can buy and later put up for sale, with no advertised brokerage, account-opening or maintenance fee. We found nothing contradicting those zero-fee claims. We could not verify the stronger claim that you always trade at a live exchange price with no markup. SEBI requires bond-platform orders to go through the exchanges' RFQ (request-for-quote) system, where the price is negotiated with a named counterparty rather than set in an open order book. Bondbazaar's own disclaimer refers to "the inventories offered on the platform", and it gets part of its bond supply through dealer Trust Group. It suits hands-on investors who will compare yields, read credit ratings (its universe runs from AAA down to D, or default) and check the counterparty on each deal sheet. It is not for anyone who needs a guaranteed early exit. Our searches found no SEBI or exchange enforcement action against it. However, it is small (10K+ Play Store installs), and its key-personnel page no longer names the founder-CEO described in 2025 press, with no public explanation.
What you actually pay
Bondbazaar advertises no brokerage, no account-opening fee and no maintenance charge. Its About page says "Customers do not incur any brokerages, account opening costs or other such charges", and its Google Play listing (updated 2 Sep 2026) says "No account opening fees, brokerage, maintenance or hidden charges." We found no evidence of hidden per-trade fees. There are two qualifiers. First, its Terms & Conditions are standard stockbroker terms. They still reserve the right to charge brokerage, exchange charges, statutory levies, security-handling charges and depository charges that "the Company may specify, as required from time to time". So "zero" is today's pricing policy, not a contractual promise. Second, the company says it earns mainly from bond issuers. A July 2025 founder profile describes its revenue as coming from charging issuers to place their bonds, with secondary-market trading free for retail investors. In the same profile, founder Suresh Darak says income is "a combination of both primary and secondary". Bondbazaar charges no brokerage and has not published how its secondary-market income is earned. Because issuers pay it to place new bonds, treat new-issue promotions as sales, not advice. It is also a registered mutual-fund distributor (ARN-302461).
The bigger question is price. Bondbazaar says the prices you buy and sell at "are fully transparent market prices since they are listed on NSE and BSE of which BB is a member". We cannot verify that this means there is no markup. SEBI's bond-platform rules require every order in a listed bond placed on an OBPP to go through the exchanges' request-for-quote (RFQ) platform. A SEBI working group (March 2025) describes RFQ as bilateral, with disclosed counterparties, and notes that most RFQ trades are negotiated off the platform and then reported. It also records that bond platforms must route 100% of their trades through RFQ and are expected to use its one-to-one mode. An RFQ trade settles through the exchange, but its price is whatever the counterparty agreed. It is not discovered in an open order book. Bondbazaar's own site disclaimer refers to "the inventories offered on the platform". A 2025 founder profile says the Trust Group partnership gives it "access to bond supply". Bondbazaar does not disclose whether a dealer margin is built into those quotes, and we found no independent price test. In short: "no brokerage" is as advertised, while "no markup" is unverified.
Two ways to check for yourself. Before you buy, compare the yield to maturity on the same ISIN (bond identifier) with another platform or with recent exchange trades. After you buy, read the deal sheet: SEBI requires bond platforms to issue one after every trade naming the counterparties, so you can see who was on the other side. Where a trade does match on an exchange order book, you pay the order-book price. But many Indian corporate bonds trade infrequently, and SEBI's working group notes that this leads to wider gaps between buying and selling prices (bid-ask spreads).
What it offers
Bondbazaar presents itself as a broad marketplace rather than a curated shelf. Its app listings claim "over 10,000 bonds" across government securities, corporate bonds (PSU, NBFC and private issuers), tax-free bonds, 54EC capital-gains bonds, secondary-market sovereign gold bonds and debt IPOs, and its website also lists state development loans (SDLs) and bond ETFs. Its Google Play listing describes the range as credit ratings "AAA to D", tenures from 90 days to 40 years, and interest paid anywhere from monthly to at maturity. The "10,000+" figure counts listed securities you can look up; it is not a vetted list. The website says its public list is not exhaustive, leaves out "extremely priced" ISINs, and shows exchange quotes delayed by 15 minutes; you need to log in during market hours for live quotes. Bondbazaar also decides what its clients may trade. In July 2025 its chief executive at the time, Suresh Darak, told Mint that it had "disabled trading in TruCap on Bondbazaar due to its small size and lack of operational information", before TruCap Finance defaulted. It works like a stockbroker account: you add money to a trading account before buying and withdraw it afterwards. Bonds are credited to your own CDSL or NSDL demat account, and issuers pay interest and maturity amounts directly into your bank account. Beyond retail bonds, it holds tri-party repo memberships (corporate-bond repo is an institutional product) and an AMFI mutual-fund distributor registration; we did not check what mutual-fund products, if any, its app offers. It markets a "strategic partnership" with Trust Group, which it calls India's largest bond house.
Returns: advertised vs reality
Advertised: "Earn 8-14%* Fixed Returns" and "Buy Now, Sell Anytime" on its homepage, whose page title reads "Earn up to 14% Fixed Returns". The app listings repeat "returns of 8-14%", say bonds "provide 8-14% fixed returns" compared with 7-8% on FDs and debt mutual funds, and promise "Zero Lock-in".
The reality: These figures are pre-tax yields to maturity on the price you pay. They assume you hold to maturity and that the issuer pays every coupon and the principal on time. The 12-14% end of the range comes from lower-rated bonds (Bondbazaar's universe goes down to D, meaning defaulted), while AAA PSU bonds, tax-free bonds and government securities pay noticeably less. The yield shown is calculated on the quoted price, so any margin inside that price already shows up as a lower yield. Coupon interest is taxed at your income-tax slab rate. If you sell before maturity, Bondbazaar's own disclaimer says the sale happens at the market price "subject to the availability of buyers and the prevailing interest rate at the time of sale", so you may earn less than the headline yield. SEBI's August 2026 draft advertising code for bond platforms would require stated return ranges to carry a prescribed disclaimer and not play up the higher figure.
Payout & default track record
Our searches (to 25 Sep 2026) found no default on a bond bought through Bondbazaar and no incident involving investors' money on the platform. That is an absence of evidence, not a guarantee, and partly reflects how small it is. Bondbazaar is a broker and marketplace, not a guarantor. Interest and principal come from the issuer and are paid straight into your bank account. If an issuer defaults, you bear the loss, and recovery runs through the bond's debenture trustee. The one test case we found reflects well on it. When TruCap Finance defaulted on its bonds (NCDs) in July 2025, the bonds had been sold widely through other platforms, and Bondbazaar's chief executive told Mint that it had already disabled trading in TruCap. Bondbazaar does not publish a "zero defaults" figure. Because its universe includes low-rated and D-rated listed bonds, you can still buy troubled bonds through it wherever trading is enabled.
Can you exit early?
Bondbazaar makes selling early easier to attempt than buy-only bond apps do, but it is less liquid than the marketing implies. You can place a sell order on any listed bond you hold, and the platform advertises "Zero Lock-in" and says you can "sell them anytime at a click". The fine print is honest: a sale "will be executed at the prevailing market rates, subject to the availability of buyers". In a 2025 podcast its founder acknowledged that the "secondary market is slightly illiquid". SEBI's March 2025 RFQ working group also found that infrequent trading in many corporate bonds widens bid-ask spreads and pushes holders to keep bonds until maturity. Large government, PSU and tax-free issues are generally easier to sell than small NBFC bonds. Plan around the maturity date: being able to place a sell order does not guarantee a buyer or a price.
Pros & cons
- Verified regulated setup: SEBI stock broker INZ000303236, active bond platform (OBPP) on both NSE (90247) and BSE (6768), and a CDSL depository participant in its own right. Trades settle through the exchange clearing corporation into your own demat account.
- Advertises no brokerage, account-opening or maintenance fee, and the company says most of its income comes from issuers rather than per-trade charges on investors
- Broad two-way marketplace: thousands of listed securities across G-secs, SDLs, PSU, NBFC and corporate bonds, tax-free bonds, SGBs, bond ETFs and debt IPOs, and you can put holdings up for sale. That is wider than the curated high-yield apps.
- Some evidence of risk filtering: it says it had disabled trading in TruCap Finance bonds before their July 2025 default
- Our searches (as of 25 Sep 2026) found no SEBI or exchange enforcement action against Bondbazaar Securities
- Bond-market background: founded by Suresh Darak, who ran L&T Financial Services' bond desk; a supply partnership with bond house Trust Group; no venture funding recorded
- The "live exchange prices, no markup" claim can't be verified. Platform orders go through the exchanges' negotiated RFQ system, Bondbazaar's own disclaimer refers to "inventories", and any dealer margin inside a quote is not disclosed.
- "Zero" is a pricing policy, not a contract: the Terms reserve the right to charge brokerage, exchange, statutory, security-handling and depository charges
- Early exit depends on the bond: "sell anytime" means you can place a sell order, but finding a buyer at a fair price depends on the bond
- Its universe runs from AAA down to D, and the upper end of the 8-14% headline comes from lower-rated, riskier bonds. "Fixed returns" are not guaranteed.
- Small and thinly reviewed: 10K+ Play Store installs, 177 Play reviews and 30 App Store ratings, and not among the top bond platforms by volume in NSE data (Sep 2026)
- Leadership change not explained: 2025 press called Suresh Darak founder and CEO, but its key-personnel page (Sep 2026) lists two other directors and no CEO. How its supply partnership with Trust Group works, and how any conflicts of interest are managed, is not public.
- App complaints: a login/OTP loop (May 2026) and a complaint about delayed withdrawals (Aug 2026). There are few such reviews, but they are recent.
Regulatory & material events
TruCap Finance failed to pay interest and principal due on its bonds (NCDs) on 16 Jul 2025, and CareEdge downgraded about ₹150 crore of its bonds to "D" (default) on 18 Jul 2025. Mint reported that the bonds had been sold through other online bond platforms (it named GoldenPi, Grip Invest, Altifi and BondsIndia). Bondbazaar's chief executive Suresh Darak told Mint: "We had disabled trading in TruCap on Bondbazaar due to its small size and lack of operational information." We found no report of Bondbazaar clients who bought TruCap bonds through the platform. This is not a controversy about Bondbazaar; we include it because it is the only default-related event we found involving the platform.
2025 coverage (Business Standard, Mint, Founder Thesis) described Suresh Darak, a chartered accountant who set up and led L&T Financial Services' bond desk, as Bondbazaar's founder and CEO, and the OBPP Association of India's site still lists him as its Vice Chairman and a founder-director of Bondbazaar (undated page). Bondbazaar's own key-managerial-personnel page, checked on 25 Sep 2026, lists two directors, Prashant Shenoy and Sujal Desai, and compliance officer Richa Nitin Gandhi; it does not name Darak or a CEO. Its About page presents the board of parent company Debtlife Holdings. We found no announcement explaining the change. This is not a regulatory issue, but investors should know who runs the platform they use.
Common user complaints
A May 2026 Google Play review says a biometric screen, then an OTP, then the biometric screen again appears at every login, and calls the website and app hard to use.
An August 2026 Google Play review alleges that larger withdrawals from the Bondbazaar wallet were held back and paid late, and that customer service did not answer calls. The same review wrongly says Bondbazaar is not SEBI-registered, when it appears on both NSE's and BSE's lists of registered bond platforms. Treat it as one unverified account, but it is sensible to test withdrawal speed with a small amount first.
An App Store reviewer praised the zero brokerage and the ₹100 starting point but said the app lacks the charts and analytics active traders expect.
With 177 Google Play reviews, 30 App Store ratings and no recurring complaint threads found on forums, there is too little public feedback to spot patterns either way. Its small size limits both praise and criticism.
Alternatives to consider
Sources
- https://www.bondbazaar.com/about-us
- https://www.bondbazaar.com/kmps
- https://www.bondbazaar.com/
- https://www.bondbazaar.com/faqs
- https://www.bondbazaar.com/terms-condition
- https://www.sebi.gov.in/online-bond-platform-providers.html
- https://obppindia.com/details-of-obpp-members/
- https://obppindia.com/team/mr-suresh-darak/
- https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/circulars/nov-2022/registration-and-regulatory-framework-for-online-bond-platform-providers_65014.html
- https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebi_data/commondocs/mar-2025/Annex%20E-%20WG%20report-%20RFQ_p.PDF
- https://www.founderthesis.com/p/suresh-darak-the-unfunded-fintech
- https://www.pressreader.com/india/mint-kolkata/20250724/282656103497168
- https://www.business-standard.com/markets/interviews/why-are-investors-buying-short-term-bonds-bondbazaar-founder-suresh-darak-explains-125070800474_1.html
- https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/online-bond-platforms-see-sharp-growth-as-retail-investors-warm-up-to-corporate-debt-amid-muted-equity-returns-article-14020572.html
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bond_bazaar
- https://apps.apple.com/in/app/bondbazaar/id6467102700
- https://tracxn.com/d/companies/bondbazaar/__3_OVYCBmhmKbxRnLavYQ2-UmreNElSlh2yi4BxO0gBg
- https://www.medianama.com/2026/08/223-sebi-online-bond-platform-providers/
This review is for information only and is not investment advice. Bond investments carry credit and liquidity risk; verify current details on the platform and check the issuer’s credit rating before investing. Facts last verified September 2026.
Back to the bonds hubFrequently asked
What people ask about Bondbazaar.
It is legitimate. Bondbazaar Securities Pvt Ltd is a SEBI-registered stock broker (INZ000303236), an active Online Bond Platform Provider on both NSE (member 90247) and BSE (member 6768), and a CDSL depository participant. Trades settle through the exchange clearing corporation into your own demat account, and our checks to 25 Sep 2026 found no SEBI or exchange enforcement action against it. "Safe" still has limits: the bonds carry credit risk (its universe goes down to D-rated), selling early depends on finding a buyer, the platform is small, and its leadership change has not been publicly explained.
Yes. It holds SEBI stock-broker registration INZ000303236, dated 31 Dec 2021. It appears on NSE's list of bond platforms (OBPPs) as member 90247 (enabled 15 Mar 2023; list updated 16 Sep 2026) and on BSE's as member 6768 (active since 10 Mar 2023; list dated 24 Sep 2026), and it is a member of the OBPP Association of India. It is also a CDSL depository participant (IN-DP-700-2022) and an AMFI-registered mutual-fund distributor (ARN-302461).
It advertises no brokerage, account-opening or maintenance fee, and we found nothing contradicting that. Its Terms & Conditions still reserve the right to charge brokerage, exchange, statutory, security-handling and depository fees "as required from time to time". Zero brokerage also does not tell you whether a margin is built into the price you are quoted. The company says it earns mainly from issuers for placing new bonds, though its founder has described income as "a combination of both primary and secondary". It is also a registered mutual-fund distributor.
Its trades settle through the exchange, but that is not the same as a price set in an open order book. SEBI requires orders in listed bonds placed on a bond platform to go through the exchanges' RFQ system, where the price is negotiated with a named counterparty. Bondbazaar's own disclaimer refers to "the inventories offered on the platform", and it gets part of its bond supply through its Trust Group partnership. It does not disclose whether a dealer margin is built into those quotes, and we found no independent test. Before buying, compare the yield on the same ISIN elsewhere, and check the counterparty named on your deal sheet.
You can place a sell order at any time, which is Bondbazaar's main selling point. But as its own disclaimer says, a sale only goes through if there is a buyer, and at the market price of the day. Large government, PSU and tax-free bonds usually sell more easily than small NBFC issues. Plan to hold to maturity and treat an early exit as possible, not promised.
Bondbazaar advertises that you can start "as low as INR 100". In practice the minimum is one unit of the bond you choose. Its own sample listings show about ₹1,000 for many PSU and tax-free bonds and ₹10,000 to ₹1 lakh for SDLs and many NBFC bonds. Check the minimum on each bond's page.
Bondbazaar Securities Pvt Ltd (incorporated in Mumbai in July 2021) presents its board under parent company Debtlife Holdings Pvt Ltd, and we found no record of venture funding. It markets a "strategic partnership" with Trust Group, which it calls India's largest bond house. Its key-managerial-personnel page (25 Sep 2026) lists directors Prashant Shenoy and Sujal Desai; Suresh Darak, described as founder and CEO in 2025 press, is not listed.