The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a scheme 'RBI Retail Direct', a one-stop solution to facilitate investment in government securities by individual investors.

The date of commencement of the scheme will be announced later.

Highlights of the scheme:

• As part of continuing efforts to increase retail participation in government securities, ‘RBI Retail Direct’ facility was announced in February 2021 for improving ease of access by retail investors through online access to the government securities market — both primary and secondary — along with the facility to open their gilt securities account (Retail Direct) with the RBI.

• Retail investors (individuals) will have the facility to open and maintain the Retail Direct Gilt Account (RDG Account) with RBI. 

• A gilt account means an account opened and maintained for holding government securities, by an entity or a person, including a resident outside India, with a custodian permitted by the RBI to open and maintain Constituent Subsidiary General Ledger Account (CSGL) with the Public Debt Office of the RBI.

• Government securities, for the purpose of the scheme, mean securities issued in form of stock by credit to Subsidiary General Ledger (SGL)/Constituent Subsidiary General Ledger (CSGL) account maintained with RBI. These include Treasury Bills, government of India dated securities, Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) and State Development Loans (SDLs).

• The account can be opened through an online portal provided for the purpose of the scheme.

• Retail investors can register under the scheme and maintain a RDG account, if they have a rupee savings bank account maintained in India, Permanent Account Number (PAN), any officially valid document for KYC purpose, valid email id and registered mobile number.

• The RDG account can be opened singly or jointly with another retail investor who meets the eligibility criteria.

• No fee will be charged for opening and maintaining Retail Direct Gilt Account with the RBI. However, fee for payment gateway, as applicable, will be borne by the registered investor. 

• The online portal will also give the registered users the facility to access to primary issuance of government securities, as well as access to NDS-OM. 

• NDS-OM means RBI’s screen based, anonymous electronic order matching system for trading in government securities in the secondary market.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store