Which is best RBI's retail direct or Private bond platform to buy government bonds in India? I want to invest in government bonds (G-Sec) in India. But confused whether to buy from RBI Retail direct or other bond trading platform like bondsindia.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows individuals to directly buy and sell government bonds through its special facility Retail Direct Gilt accounts. Central bank governor Shaktikanta Das, in November, launched the ambitious retail direct plan aiming to draw household savings to a hitherto opaque government bond market dominated by banks and institutional investors.

Under the scheme, retail investors can open a Retail Direct Gilt (RDG) account via the online portal, and they can directly invest a minimum of Rs 10,000 and a maximum of Rs 2 crore per security.

The retail investors can not only place a non-competitive bid in the primary issuance of all central and state government securities but also access the secondary market through Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS OM), RBI’s trading system. Since RBI gives an individual the window to invest in binds directly through i=an in-house facility, it's always safer to invest through the central bank rather than a private platform.