India’s securities regulator unveils a new draft framework to curb deceptive promotions on online bond platforms, aiming for clearer investor disclosures and banning misleading phrases like ‘high returns’.
India’s markets regulator has proposed a tougher advertising code for online bond platform providers as it moves to rein in misleading promotions, urgency-led sales tactics and influencer-driven marketing in the fast-growing retail debt market. The Securities and Exchange Board of India said the changes are meant to give investors clearer information and reduce the risk that social media campaigns and banner ads push people into quick decisions without proper scrutiny, according to Business Today and related market reports.
Under the draft framework, every advertisement showing a debt security on an online bond platform would need to display a standard set of details, including the issuer’s name, tenor, whether the security is secured or unsecured, clean and dirty prices, yield to maturity, credit risk meter and full credit rating information. SEBI is also proposing that terms such as “fixed returns” may be used only in a general, non-promissory way, provided platforms show the calculation basis and risk disclosures rather than implying a guarantee. LiveMint said the regulator is also considering a colour-coded visual risk meter to help retail investors better understand credit risk.
SEBI’s proposed warning text is blunt: “Fixed returns are not guaranteed returns. Investments in debt securities are subject to market, credit and default risks. Read all offer related documents carefully.” The draft would require that wording to appear without alteration, in a minimum 10-point font, while regional-language adverts would need faithful translations and audiovisual promotions would have to include both on-screen text and spoken warnings. The regulator is also seeking to ban phrases such as “high yield” and “high returns”, while keeping celebrities out of product endorsements.
The draft also tightens rules for principal protected market-linked debentures, which would not be allowed to suggest assured payouts. SEBI said such products must carry clear risk disclosures tied to the underlying benchmark and the issuer’s offer document. The regulator is inviting public comments on the consultation paper until 11 September 2026, part of a broader effort to create a common advertisement code across regulated entities and curb the kind of promotional practices that have drawn investor complaints about deceptive marketing in the bond market.
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