Fixed-Income Innovation Forum 2025: Conversations Driving the Future of India’s Fixed-Income Market
The fixed-income market is at an inflection point with the bond market alone expected to double within the next five years. As the rapid growth in the fixed-income ecosystem creates new opportunities, capturing them demands the adoption of technology to enhance efficiency and streamline processes.
To foster dialogue on this transformation, Harmoney hosted its debut Fixed Income Innovation Forum 2025, bringing together industry pioneers and thought leaders.
With 7 esteemed speakers, 45+ professionals, and 2 insightful sessions, the event provided a platform for fixed-income professionals to gain insights and network.
Key Takeaways
Here are 5 key takeaways from the insightful discussions:
- Addressing Liquidity Challenges: While the size of the corporate bond market is ₹50 lakh crores, its daily turnover is only ₹6000 crores. Issues like the buy-and-hold tendency and lack of incentives to be a market maker lead to low liquidity in the market.
As Mr. Amit Tripathi emphasized, “Liquidity is pretty inadequate, as I suppose bond markets are concerned. Not only is liquidity adequate, price is extremely difficult beyond a particular threshold, either in terms of rating or in terms of structure, and the third is that there is no incentive to trade, which is the biggest problem in terms of secondary market liquidity.”
- Electronification to Drive Efficiency: The shift to electronic trading platforms, like RFQs and OBPPs, is key to improving transparency, efficiency, and participation in corporate bond markets.
As noted by Mr. Vijay Krishnamurthy, “Eventually, everybody will need to adopt technology, that is the way forward.”
- Challenges in Homogenization: Corporate bond markets have faced challenges with technological advancements due to the heterogeneous nature of the market, unlike the government securities market. The differences in risk profiles, security structures, and market participants make it difficult to homogenize the corporate bond market compared to government bonds.
- Global Learnings: India’s bond markets require a calibrated approach, focusing on organic growth, efficiency, and technology adoption, rather than direct comparisons with mature markets. Sharing his experience in the U.S. market, Mr. Tom Thees stated that, “in the U.S., one of the first motivations for electronic trading from a dealer side was not transparency but there was a need for trading efficiency.”
Conclusion
The inaugural Fixed-Income Innovation Forum sparked meaningful conversations about the Indian fixed-income market. The insightful discussions shed light on actionable steps for addressing liquidity challenges, enhancing market participation, and integrating technology to drive efficiency in the market.
At Harmoney, we look forward to continuing these conversations while driving innovation and collaboration in the Indian fixed-income market.
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