The centralised database for corporate bonds

The centralised database for corporate bonds is the closest thing India has to a single record of every listed corporate bond. It is not a website someone built voluntarily. Chapter XIV of SEBI's NCS Master Circular mandates it, assigns each field to a specific party, and sets a deadline for each update. This guide covers what the centralised database for corporate bonds is, who fills and verifies what, and how quickly information has to reach it. It is not investment advice.

What is the centralised database for corporate bonds?

Chapter XIV of the Master Circular for issue and listing of non-convertible securities, securitised debt instruments, security receipts, municipal debt securities and commercial paper, dated 15 October 2025, contains the mandate. It reads against Regulations 17(1) and 20 of the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-Convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021.

The chapter does three things. It requires stock exchanges and depositories to jointly create, host and maintain a centralised database of corporate bonds held in demat form. It sets out the responsibilities of the issuer, the credit rating agencies and the debenture trustees in relation to that database. And it prescribes the actual list of data fields, across three annexures.

The database is not new, and the chapter is careful to preserve continuity. Historical data already available under SEBI circular CIR/IMD/DF/17/2013 dated 22 October 2013 and circular SEBI/HO/DDHS/DDHS1/P/CIR/2021/572 dated 4 June 2021 continues to be hosted by the depositories.

Coverage extends past plain bonds. Under paragraph 3, depositories also provide what they hold on non-convertible redeemable preference shares and securitised debt instruments, in a separate section, in the form available with them.

Who is responsible for what?

Five parties, each with a distinct role. The design principle is that the party closest to a fact fills it and a second party verifies it.

Depositories create, host, maintain and disseminate the database. They must have adequate systems and safeguards to maintain data integrity and prevent manipulation of data. Each depository synchronises with the other. A depository that receives information from an issuer hosts it and shares it with the other depository for hosting within three working days of receipt. They categorise investors per SEBI circular CIR/CFD/CMD/13/2015 dated 30 November 2015, and they issue secure login credentials to issuers, exchanges, rating agencies and debenture trustees.

Issuers fill the Annexure XIV-A fields in the database at the time of allotment of the ISIN, and after listing submit the Annexure XIV-B fields to a stock exchange where the securities are listed.

Stock exchanges develop systems so information they receive updates the database daily, verify the listing details in both Annexure XIV-A and Annexure XIV-B, and update event based and periodical information received from issuers.

Credit rating agencies access the database to verify the rating information the issuer uploaded. Where there is a discrepancy, the agency notifies the stock exchanges and updates the correct information itself, within the Annexure XIV-C timelines.

Debenture trustees access the database to verify default history and other relevant information, and on a discrepancy notify the exchanges and update the correct information, again within the Annexure XIV-C timelines.

That last pair of duties is the interesting part of the design. The issuer files its own default history, and the debenture trustee is the party empowered to correct it in place.

What does the issuer file at ISIN allotment?

Annexure XIV-A runs to 57 numbered fields in four groups.

Issuer details cover the issuer's name, its former names including merger and amalgamation cases with the last three names made available, its CIN, its LEI, the registered office address, the compliance officer or company secretary with email, and group companies with their own CIN, LEI and nature of relationship.

Issuer and instrument classification covers the type of issuer by ownership, PSU, non PSU or an issuer under the municipal debt securities regulations, the sector of business on a macro economic sector to basic industry code hierarchy, the type of instrument including whether it is a green debt security, whether it is tax free, and whether the bonds fall under the infrastructure category as notified by government.

Issue details cover issue size including any green shoe option and the objects of the issue.

Instrument details is the largest group: ISIN, series and tranche, short and long instrument description, face value, tenure at issuance, whether secured or unsecured, whether guaranteed or partially guaranteed, credit enhancement details, whether principal protected, seniority in repayment, coupon basis, coupon type, coupon rate with benchmark and spread where variable, whether a step up or step down coupon applies, an undertaking that the day count convention is calculated as actual by actual, a downloadable allotment confirmation letter link, put and call option availability with whether exercisable at discount, premium or par, rating status and rating with agency name and date, redemption date, redemption type, partial redemption and redemption premium details, maturity type across thirteen options including perpetual and extendible variants, default history, and a downloadable link to the shelf prospectus, information memorandum, offer documents, tranches or series.

Field 57 is the cash flow schedule for payment of interest, dividend or redemption, filed at ISIN activation. It carries its own applicability note: the provision applies with effect from 18 August 2025, for prospective issuances and for the residual maturity of ISINs already listed. Any change to cash flow information during the tenure has to be updated within one working day.

How current is the data?

Daily at the infrastructure level, faster at the issuer level, and this is where the chapter needs careful reading. Annexure XIV-C sets the timelines: issuers provide Annexure XIV-A details when applying for the ISIN; exchanges update the database with Annexure XIV-B details received, and depositories host and synchronise, all on a daily basis; a depository shares information with the other depository within three working days; and variations in details provided to a depository that sit outside the Annexure XIV-B fields go in within seven days of the change.

The one genuine tension is on Annexure XIV-B. Paragraph 2.2(b) describes it as periodical, within 30 days from the end of the financial year, and event based as applicable, and the annexure heading says once a year and event based. Annexure XIV-C row 2, covering the same filing, says within one working day of the change in such details. Anyone reconciling filing dates against this database should treat the event driven one working day timeline and the annual cycle as two separate paths through the same annexure rather than assuming a single cadence.

The database is a mandated, multi-party, field-level record with verification split across the issuer, the rating agency and the debenture trustee, which is what makes it usable as a reference at all. The field level view is in how to read the corporate bond database. Flock reports public regulatory filings with every claim sourced and dated. What any of it means for your money is your call to make.