All you want to know about RBI Retail Direct

With the activation of the RBI Retail Direct portal by PM Narendra Modi on November 12, retail investors can now invest directly in government securities (G-secs), such as central-government bonds, treasury bills, sovereign gold bonds and state-development loans. Until now, if you wanted to invest in G-secs, you had to either take the indirect route through debt funds or go through other intermediaries/stock exchanges. There was no direct avenue available. No fees, except for the one for the payment gateway, will be charged for opening and maintaining the Retail Direct gilt account (RDG account) and for submitting bids in primary auctions. This makes the new scheme doubly interesting. In the first part of this two-part series, we'll see how to use this portal. How to open an RDG account To open an RDG account, you should have a savings bank account, a PAN number, a valid document for KYC, an email ID and a mobile number. Next, just go to www.rbiretaildirect.org.in and register on it. Once you register, the portal will request you to initiate the KYC process. The post-registration window pretty much sums up the steps that one has to go through. Post this, your login credentials will be emailed to you. Register