The pandemic of COVID-19 significantly altered investment
strategies, leading to a shift of approach that focused on retail
investors. Retail investors, at the same time, looked for safer
ways to invest their money as traditional investments like fixed
deposits, post office savings, mutual funds, and so on, generated
lower returns. The Reserve Bank of India
("RBI") had first attempted to increase
retail participation by launching Retail Direct, that focused on
investment in government securities (primary and secondary) by
retail investors. This, however, found limited ground, and the
total number of registrations of individual investors stood at
1,35,629 as of April 22nd, 2024, since its inception in 2021,
according to RBI data1 The objective announced by RBI in
the Statement of Developmental and Regulatory Policies of deepening
retail participation and ease of access, was yet to be
achieved! After the recession in 2008, banks and financial
institutions witnessed
