<b>Arvind Mayaram:</b> Fuelling growth with corporate bond

To achieve higher growth rate, reliance on banks with challenged balance sheets will not be adequate

Globally, the availability of finance from banks and financial institutions is shrinking. With hardening of the prudential norms under the Basel regime, a substantial part of the much needed long-term finance, both equity and debt, would have to come from the capital markets. For India to achieve a higher economic growth rate and invest heavily in infrastructure, reliance predominantly on banks with challenged balance sheets will not be adequate.

The Indian bond market, as compared to those of other peer Asian countries, has a very small share in the total debt of the nation. Even though in India bond issuances