SBI Calls for Active Participation in Corporate Bond Market

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) State Bank of India chairman C S Setty on Wednesday called for active participation by mutual funds and pension funds in the corporate bond market.

"I am sure that a lot of corporates would like to issue bonds. I believe that if household/corporate savings are finding ways into these three investment categories, it is important that insurance and mutual funds also actively participate in the corporate bond market. I don't see that kind of participation actively coming in," Setty said.

He said the pension/ mutual funds are making investments in AAA-rated bonds and this is not going to help deepen the corporate bond market.

Setty said the corporate bond market has to come into financing of infrastructure as well as balance sheet funding of corporates.

He said the investments are happening not only in equity but also in mutual funds, pension funds and insurance funds.

"We have been debating on depth of the corporate bond market for many years. We could not achieve that depth," Setty said, adding that SBI is the largest issuer of corporate bond and has issued Rs 50,000 crore worth of bonds this year.