Should you invest in NHIT’s NCD offer?

With interest rates on fixed income options hitting rock-bottom in recent years, debt investors have been starved for reasonable yields. This is perhaps why the issue of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) from National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT NCD), offering a yield which is a tad over 8%, is seeing such enthusiastic reception from investors, bond platforms and some advisors too. 

But after analysing the terms of this NHIT NCD offer, we believe that individual investors can skip this offer. The structure of the principal and coupon repayments on this NHIT NCD will make for irregular income. With market yields moving up, an 8.05% yield on a non-sovereign 25-year instrument is not a mouth-watering return either.

NHIT NCD - Five reasons to skip the NCD

Background

The issue

NHIT or National Highways Infra Trust is making a public issue of secured NCDs (non-convertible debentures) to raise Rs 750 crore with a green-shoe option to keep excess subscription of another Rs 750 crore. The minimum application size is Rs 10,000 with multiples of Rs 1000 allowed thereafter. 

NHIT is a recently-registered Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) which earns its income mainly from toll roads acquired from the National Highways Authority of India. The toll road assets are held through a project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The InvIT is sponsored by NHAI. While NHAI is a fully government of India-owned entity, the InvIT is not backed by the government. 

The NCDs are ranked as senior debt secured by first charge on NHIT’s immovable assets, hypothecated assets such as receivables and a corporate guarantee. But with NHIT being a relatively new entity, it is debt protection mechanisms such as the debt service reserve account (to meet each quarter’s debt repayments) and its comfortable liquidity position (due to recent fund raising), that provide protection to NCD investors. The NCDs have been rated AAA by CARE and India Ratings.

The business

NHIT holds an initial portfolio of five toll roads in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana and Karnataka totalling 389 kilometres through a project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). It has recently added three toll roads in Telangana, Maharashtra, UP and MP totalling 246 kms, taking its total portfolio to 8 toll roads. Plans are for NHIT to eventually acquire 1500 kms of toll roads over the next three years from its sponsor. 

The project SPV has signed concession agreements with NHAI for the right to collect tolls over 20 or 30 years. The concessions are based on a TOT model where NHIT is expected to collect toll, but incur expenses relating to the maintenance of assets. The existing portfolio of assets have been acquired using an initial capital of Rs 6,011 crore raised from InVit unitholders and a bridge loan of Rs 1,500 crore which is proposed to be repaid from this NCD offer. 

NHIT has term loan sanctions aggregating to Rs 2,000 crore from banks and has recently raised over Rs 1400 crore through a private placement of units with institutions. This positions it well for now to fund its road acquisitions. 

InvITs tend to need a constant infusion of debt or equity to expand their portfolio of operating assets and generate cash for their lenders and unitholders. Therefore, SEBI caps their aggregate borrowings at 49% of their enterprise value, with a relaxation to 70% based on certain conditions. Rating agencies peg NHIT’s aggregate debt to EV at 37-41%. 

Compared to InvITs based on power transmission assets (like Indigrid or Powergrid InvITs), those that rely on toll collections are riskier. Toll collections can be subject to ups and downs based on economic activity which in turn impacts traffic volumes and toll collections. Regulatory interventions to ‘waive’ toll are also a risk. 

But NHIT’s geographically diversified portfolio, and the vintage of its toll roads lend some comfort. While the initial set of 5 toll roads have a 12-18 year record of toll collections, the latter set of 3 have also been existence for 5-13 years. CARE’s rating report states that the initial five projects collected toll of Rs 139 crore during FY22, with the collections jumping to Rs 142 crore in the first quarter of 2023. Potential collections from the second set of 3 roads are not captured in these numbers as they are set to contribute to NHIT’s income from October 2022 only.

Why it’s better to skip

#1 Unfriendly structure

In our view, the main call that you have to take on this NHIT NCD relates to its peculiar structure. NHIT’s underlying business in secondary. To this end, there are a few points to note:

One, a key difference between this NHIT NCD and others is that the principal repayment will not come to one lumpsum at maturity of the bond. Instead, it will be staggered between the 8th and 25th year of holding. 

The NHIT NCDs have a face value of Rs 1000 each, broken up into three parts termed as STRPPs – Separately Transferable and Redeemable Principal Parts. STRRP A is worth Rs 300, STRRP B is worth Rs 300 and STRRP C is worth Rs 400. The principal portion on each STRRP is proposed to be paid back to you in full, after the 8th, 13th and 18th years respectively from the date of allotment. 

Two, the individual STRRPs are not being redeemed at one go at their face values. Instead, they will be redeemed in installments of Rs 50 each. This makes the principal repayment schedule for this NCD appear as follows:

The return of principal right from the 8th year lifts up the yield of the instrument, because you get back the bulk of your principal sooner than 25 years. However, you need to remain invested in this NCD till the 25th year to get to that 8.05% yield. 

From a portfolio perspective, the principal payouts in small dribbles are sub-optimal for you, as tracking and reinvesting them will be a tough task. Moreover, with the principal being returned to you in small doses, the interest you earn from this NCD will decline over time.

#2 Irregular returns

Investors and advisors who are recommending this offer are going mainly by the effective yield of 8.05% that they have worked out based on the bond’s cash flows over 25 years. But if you invest in this NCD, you will need to prepare for sharply fluctuating coupon payments and cash flows, very unlike any other fixed return instrument. Here’s why.

The NHIT NCD will pay out a coupon of 7.9% pa on a half-yearly basis. But you need to be aware that the interest is calculated on the outstanding principal. As the principal outstanding on this bond (owing to STRRPs being gradually retired) falls from the 8th year, as explained above, your interest receipts will begin to dip too.

See the Excel sheet above. It captures how your interest payments, principal return and final cash flows from this NHIT NCD will pan out over the next 25 years (on one single NCD). As you will see, your highest cash flow from the bond is likely to be Rs 129 in 2035. The lowest will be less than Rs 2 in 2047. 

Such variability will make this NHIT NCD an irregular income source for regular cash flow seeking investors.  The graph below shows the fluctuating cash flows you will receive from each NCD, after the first 8 years.

On paper, with the STRRPs being separately tradeable in the secondary market, you may think of exiting some of them post-offer. But given the falling face value and coupons of the STRRPs you cannot be sure whether it will be priced like bonds with similar maturity or whether you will get a higher yield or a lower one if you sell. There is also a risk of poor liquidity in these new instruments. So, if you want to get the 8.05% yield, you will necessarily have to hold on for the full 25 years.  

In our view, the irregular returns and long lock-in period makes it difficult to find a use-case for this NHIT NCD. It may not fit seniors or others seeking steady income because of its irregular cash flows that are front-ended. It further loses charm with central and state government bonds offering good yields even on long tenors. It may not suit investors looking for debt allocations for their long-term portfolios either, because of the long 25 year lock-in, which enhances duration risk, and the difficulty of reinvesting its piecemeal periodic payouts.

Limited financials

InvITs are vehicles where the unitholders (or shareholders) expect regular distributions just like bondholders. The claims of debt and NCD holders in InvITs rank ahead of the unitholders. But to assess an InvIT’s ability to distribute healthy cash flows to its lenders and investors, it is useful to have a reasonable track record of operations and history of revenues and cash flows. 

NHIT lacks such a track record, as the InvIT itself is of recent origin. The prospectus of NHIT states that, as its existing assets are available only from November 2021, it has sought special exemption from SEBI to present a limited snapshot of financials. These go back just over a year to March 2021.

But these financials do not capture income or profitability potential of NHIT’s full toll road portfolio. Nor do they capture a full picture of its debt or equity (which would increase post NCD and private placement). This makes the debt service coverage and interest service coverage ratios calculated in the prospectus for March 2022 (at 4.6-4.7 times) irrelevant to investors in this NCD. 

However, rating agencies CARE and India Ratings, after assessing the debt parameters of NHIT just before this offer, have relied on its low consolidated debt to EV (37-41%), debt service coverage ratio of over 2 times and funding from recent private placements and term loans to assign AAA ratings.

Not sovereign

The common perception seems to be that because NHAI is the sponsor of this InvIT, NHIT is a sovereign entity backed by the government of India. This is incorrect. Just like other listed InvITs, NHIT is majority-owned by public shareholders and institutions. 

The shareholding pattern of NHIT (based on prospectus) shows the sponsor NHAI holding 16.06% of the unit capital, with the public holding at 83.94%. Institutions and corporate bodies, led by Ontario and CPP Investment Board hold a 69.9% stake in the unit capital while non-institutions hold the remaining stake. 

Given this ownership pattern, investors in NHIT need to view it just like any other listed InvIT backed by private investors. In fact, NHIT has been created as a part of the GOI’s plan to transition quasi-sovereign entities such as NHAI into self-financing institutions that don’t rely on the central Budget for funds. The hive-off of NHAI assets into this InvIT is, in fact, meant to monetise NHAI assets and distance them from GOI finances. Given its non-sovereign status, the returns on NHIT’s NCD issue need to be evaluated against other AAA-rated issuers, rather than government securities.

Duration risk

After the recent rise in India’s g-sec yields, 1 year treasury bills offer yields as high as 7%, central g-secs maturing in 4-5 years are offering 7.3%, 10 year g-secs are at 7.52%. SDLs, which are also sovereign instruments, offer yields close to 7.8%-7.9% for 10 year tenures. 

Compared to these sovereign options, the 8.05% yield on the NHIT NCDs isn’t that attractive. Given the high probability of a further rise in market yields, investing in a 25-year instrument at this yield can expose you to duration risks, eroding your capital if you seek exit before maturity.

To sum up…

We don’t think the NHIT NCDs are attractive for retail investors because: 

  • Their STRRP structure and principal repayments make for irregular cash flows for regular income seeking investors. For investors looking for debt allocations towards long term goals like retirement or wealth creation, the duration risk, lack of cumulative option and the irregular payouts make this bond sub-optimal. 
  • NHIT has very limited history and financials on the basis of which to judge its fundamentals over the long run. 
  • The yield of 8.05% is not attractive given the 25-year tenor and the non-sovereign nature of the bond. 
  • Market yields are quite likely to rise further, with the result that you may find sovereign instruments offering almost similar yields with far lower duration.

More like this

16 thoughts on “Should you invest in NHIT’s NCD offer?”

  1. Vanakkam Aarati Ma’am,

    I discovered PrimeInvestor yesterday and subscribed to the site today. Cannot express enough gratitude for such high quality in-depth coverage on personal finance topics!!
    So far I have found the coverage to be ROCC Solid [Reliable, Objective, Comprehensive, and Comprehendible] 🙂

    For couple of year now, I have been observing that Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. ‘s bonds are available at coupon and yield of ~ 10%. They are guaranteed by the Uttar Pradesh State Govt. If they meet your reviewing criteria then please have a look at them and publish about them.

    Thanking you

    Warm Regards

  2. Thanks a lot Aarti Madam for made it easier to understand. Very clear.
    Its need of hour to write about State government guaranteed company bonds ( power bonds and AP bonds etc)!. Hope you cover it soon.

  3. Thanks a lot Aarti

    I did not go in details of this NCD Issue with just a plain fact… If something is too good to be true, it is indeed fishy.
    And now your detailed analysis confirms those doubts. I already own Powergrid InvIT and pretty happy with its performance apart fm major chunk in Short Term Debt Bond Funds. But this NHAI Issue looked indeed fishy.

    Thanks a lot for this detailed review and also keeping it open access for all. Layman Investors/ Limited Knowledge DIY Investors like most of us need to be extremely mindful about Debt Instruments and be very clear that Debt is for Safety, Liquidity and fairly Predictable Returns. All risks should be shifted to Equity from Debt.

    I am going to share this Article in my Group for awareness. Probably, many have already subscribed the issue.

    Thanks once again.

    Regards
    Keyur

  4. I hurriedly looked at “To Sum up…”. The third point is enough to take a decision to invest or not for a retired person like me who look for regular income backed by GoI. One need not go through the entire article, as the points are well written in Sum up. The highlighting of first sentence in second para is very attractive and sets the side of the argument and rest of it is the proof. It is clearly brought out what is GoI, NHAI and NHIT. Interest rate is attractive, but the article suggests, one should see the duration 25 years, the principle is paid in bits for such a long duration and the important point is the interest is keep falling as the principle is getting reduced over a long period of time. Thanks for timely, well researched and informative article.

  5. Good one Aarati,
    As you have rightly pointed out, SDLs with a simpler structure and the RBI backing seems a way better alternative to this. Perhaps you should write an article on SDLs, covering the aspect of the RBI mechanism as to how it is safe, even if the underlying State may not be a strong one. This may dispel a lot of doubts on SDLs. Further, you could highlight the difference between SDLs and State Guaranteed bonds. Lately, there seems to be a lot of interest in bonds of State Power Gen Cos etc.

    As an add, if you could also talk a bit on Muni bonds (for those unfortunate ones who could not hear you at the Chennai conference !)

    Thanks,
    Ramesh

  6. This is precisely why I love the content from primeinvestor team! The devil is in the details and not one of the many other web sources I looked at really explained what implications this has on the cash flow (most harping about the yield). Thank you Aarati for the wonderful write-up.

  7. Thanks Aarati! As usual, excellent review of this investment option. Crucial points overlooked by many have been nicely highlighted by you. I was also a little swayed by the coupon rate and NHAI brand that is tagged. Thanks to you, now I know better!
    Good day.

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Fees: Our current fee structure, the term and duration of our subscription for our Research Service, can be viewed on our website: https://primeinvestor.in/prime-pricing. Eligibility for any discounts is ascertained at the time the client subscribes. Any such discount and its tenure shall be at the discretion of the RA.

Subscription and access to content services fall under the purview of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as per the current indirect taxation policy, Government of India. Unless otherwise indicated, prices stated on our website are exclusive of applicable GST, any applicable value added tax (VAT) or other sales taxes. We are a business-to-consumer (B2C) service provider and we do not commit to provide any input tax credit on GST charged on subscription to our Research Service.

We may change the Subscription Fees and charges then in effect, or add new fees or charges which will take effect at the end of the client’s subscription period, by giving notice in advance and an opportunity to cancel renewal of the subscription.

Subscription Access & Renewal: Subscription to the Website commences immediately on the realisation of payment of the Subscription Fees. Subscriptions are set to be renewed automatically at the end of the subscription period.

Unless the client notifies us before the end of his/her subscription period, or the client cancels the auto-renewal mandate within the period specified by law, that the client does not wish to renew his/her subscription, the client’s subscription will renew for the period defined by the client’s subscription plan. We will charge the subscription using the same payment method that you previously used.

Although the client may notify to us his/her intention to his/her subscription, such notice will only take effect at the end of his/her then current subscription period, and he/she will not receive a refund other than as set out under Clause 8 in these Terms.

The client may notify us of his/her wish to cancel his/her subscription by sending an email to [email protected]. The client must provide at least 5 business days advance notice for this to be implemented.

Refunds: There can be no cancellation and refund of subscription fee paid once the subscription is active, other than as stated in Clause 8 of these Terms. If the client is entitled to a refund as specified under Clause 8 of these Terms, the RA will credit that refund to the card or other payment method used by the client to submit payment, unless it has expired - in which case the RA will contact the client to proceed with the refund. If we do issue a refund or credit due to circumstances outside the obligations specified under Clause 8, we are under no obligation to issue the same or a similar refund in the future.

General disclaimers: The recommendations made herein in the Research Services are expression of views and/or opinions and should not be deemed or construed to be advice for the purpose of purchase or sale of any security, nor a solicitation or offering on any investment/ trading opportunity on behalf of the company, AMC, insurance company, or issuer of security referred to herein.

The content and research reports generated by the RA does not constitute or is not intended to constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation to an offer to buy or sell financial products, units or securities.

The information/ opinion/ views mentioned in research reports or by the RA are not meant to serve as a professional guide to the client or recipients of this Report. The research report, recommendation, or any other content published by the RA do not assure or guarantee any minimum or fixed returns to the client or recipients of the reports/ recommendations/ content.

Use of this information is at the client’s own risk. The client must make his/ her own investment decisions based on his/her specific investment objective and financial position and using such independent advisors as he/she believes necessary. The services rendered by the RA are on a best-effort basis. All information in the content or research report of the RA is provided on an as is basis. Information is believed to be reliable but the RA does not warrant its completeness or accuracy and expressly disclaim all warranties and conditions of any kind, whether express or implied.

While due care has been taken to ensure that the disclosures, information, and opinions given are fair and reasonable, PrimeInvestor Financial Research Pvt Ltd and/or none of its officers, directors, partners, employees, agents, subsidiaries, affiliates or business associates shall be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including lost profits arising in any way whatsoever from the information/ opinions/ views contained in the research report and recommendations that form part of the Research Service, and/or mails, social media or notifications issued by PrimeInvestor Financial Research Pvt Ltd or any other agency appointed/authorised by PrimeInvestor Financial Research Pvt Ltd. Returns and performance figures mentioned in the research report represent past performance and should not be constituted to be future returns or guaranteed returns.

Any agreements, transactions or other arrangements made between the client and any third party named on (or linked to from) the Website are at your own responsibility and entered into at your own risk. Any information that you receive via the Website, whether or not it is classified as “real time”, may have stopped being current by the time it reaches you. Market price information may be rounded up/down and therefore may not be entirely accurate.

The purpose of these disclosures is to provide essential information about the Research Services in a manner to assist and enable the prospective client/client in making an informed decision for engaging in Research Services before onboarding.

History, present business and background: PrimeInvestor Financial Research Private Limited is registered with SEBI as Research Analyst with registration no. INH200008653. The Research Analyst got its registration on August 19, 2021 and is engaged in offering research and recommendation services.

Disciplinary history: There are no pending material litigations or legal proceedings against the Research Analyst. As on date, no penalties / directions have been issued by SEBI under the SEBI Act or Regulations made thereunder against the Research Analyst relating to Research Analyst services.

Details of the RA's associates: No associates.

Usage of Website Content: This Website is controlled and operated by the RA. All material, including research reports, recommendations, portfolios, ratings, lists of financial products, illustrations, statements, opinions, views, photographs, products, images, artwork, designs, text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio and video clips and software (collectively, “Content”) are protected by copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights that are owned and controlled by the RA or by other parties that have licensed their material to us.

Except where otherwise agreed in writing with the RA, material on the Website is solely for the client’s personal, non-commercial use. Except as provided below, the client must not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit or distribute such material in any way, including by e-mail or other electronic means and whether directly or indirectly and the client must not assist any other person to do so.

Without the prior written consent of the RA, modification of the materials, use of the materials on any other web site or networked computer environment or use of the materials for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial use is a violation of the copyrights, trademarks and other proprietary rights, and is prohibited. Any use for which the client receives any remuneration, whether in money or otherwise, is a commercial use for the purposes of these Terms.

The client may occasionally distribute a copy of a research report, or a portion of the same, from the Website in non-electronic form to a few individuals without charge, provided the client includes all copyright and other proprietary rights notices in the same form in which the notices appear, original source attribution, and the phrase “Used with permission from PrimeInvestor Financial Research Pvt. Ltd.”

While the client may occasionally download and store research reports or information from the Website for his/her personal use, he/she may not otherwise provide others with access to the same. The foregoing does not apply to any sharing functionality we provide through the Website that expressly allows the client to share Content or links to Content with others. In addition, the client may not use Content he/she has downloaded for personal use to develop or operate an automated trading system or for data or text mining.

The client agrees not to rearrange or modify the Content available through the Website. The client agrees not to display, post, frame, or scrape the Content for use on another website, app, blog, product or service, except as otherwise expressly permitted by these Terms. You agree not to create any derivative work based on or containing the research products and Content. The framing or scraping of or in-line linking to the Services or any Content contained thereon and/or the use of webcrawler, spidering or other automated means to access, copy, index, process and/or store any Content made available on or through the Services other than as expressly authorized by us is prohibited.

The client further agrees to abide by exclusionary protocols (e.g., Robots.txt, Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP), etc.) that may be used in connection with the Research Services. The client may not access parts of the Research Services to which he/she is not authorized, or attempt to circumvent any restrictions imposed on your use or access of the Services.

As a general rule, the client may not use the Content, including without limitation, any Content made available through one of our RSS Feeds, in any commercial product or service, without our express written consent.

The client may not create apps, extensions, or other products and services that use our Content without our permission. The client may not aggregate or otherwise use our Content in a manner that could reasonably serve as a substitute for a subscription to the Website.

The client may not access or view the Services with the use of any scripts, extensions, or programs that alter the way the Services are displayed, rendered, or transmitted to you without our written consent.

The client agrees not to use the Services for any unlawful purpose. We reserve the right to terminate or restrict the client's access to the Website if, in our opinion, the client's use of the Services may violate any laws, regulations or rulings, infringe upon another person's rights or violate these Terms.

Prohibited content: The Website includes comments sections, blogs and other interactive features that allow interaction among clients and between clients and the RA. We call the information posted by or contributed by users “Contributed Content.” In the course of availing of the Research Services or uploading any post or comment on the Website, the client shall not post any Contributed Content that (i) contains nude, semi-nude, sexually suggestive photos, (ii) tends or is likely to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other users of the Website and/or Research Services, (iii) is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to use or have access to the Website and/or Services, or (iv) otherwise violates, is prohibited or restricted by applicable law, rule or regulation, is offensive or illegal or violates the rights of, harms or threatens the safety of other users of the Website and/or Services (collectively “Prohibited Content”).

We reserve the right to cease to provide the client with the Research Services or access to the Website, or terminate your subscription, with immediate effect and without notice and liability, for violating these Terms, applicable law, rules or regulations and reserves the right to remove Prohibited Content which is in violation of these Terms, or is otherwise abusive, illegal or disruptive. The determination of whether any content constitutes Prohibited Content, violates these Terms, or is otherwise abusive illegal or disruptive, is subject to the sole determination of the Firm.

Changes to Research Services: We are constantly endeavouring to improve the quality of Research Services provided to our clients. Due to this, the form and nature of the Research Services provided may change from time to time without any prior notice to the client. We reserve the right to introduce and initiate new features, functionalities, components to the Website and/or Research Services and/or change, alter, modify, or discontinue existing ones without any prior notice to the client.

Warranty and liability disclaimer: The Website, Research Services, and all the materials and services, included on or otherwise made available to the client through this Website is provided by the RA on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any representation or warranties, express or implied except otherwise specified in writing. Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, the RA does not warrant that:

  • This Website and/or Research Services will be constantly available, or available at all;
  • The information on this Website or provided through the Research Services is complete, true, accurate or not misleading; or
  • The quality of any products, services, information, or other material that you obtain through the Website or Services will meet your expectations.

The RA, to the fullest extent permitted by law, disclaims all warranties, whether express or implied, including the warranty of merchantability, fitness for particular purpose and non-infringement. The RA makes no warranties about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the Website, Research Services, Content, Contributed Content, Services, software, text, graphics and links.

The RA does not warrant that this Website, Research Services, information, content, materials, or any other material included on or otherwise made available to you through this Website, their servers, or electronic communication sent by the RA are free of viruses or other harmful components.

Nothing on this Website constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind.

Indemnification: The client:

  1. Represents, warrants and covenants that no materials of any kind provided by him/her will:
    1. Violate, plagiarise, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights; or
    2. Contain libellous, Prohibited Content or other unlawful material;
  2. Hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the RA and all of the RA’s officers, directors, owners, agents, customers/clients, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable advocate’s fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by the client of these Terms or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants. The client shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defence of any such claim. The RA reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by the client.

Applicable law: This Website, including the Content and Contributed Content and information contained herein, and the provision of Research Services shall be governed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, laws of the Republic of India and the courts of Chennai, India which shall retain exclusive jurisdiction to entertain any proceedings in relation to any disputes arising out of the same. As such, the laws of India shall govern any transaction completed using this Website.

Information gathered and tracked: Information submitted or collected on the Website or pursuant to the use of the Services is stored in a database. Specifically, we store the username, name, e-mail address, contact number, as submitted or collected on our Website or through the provision of the Research Services. We may use such information to send out occasional promotional materials, including alerts on new Services available, or other promotional and marketing material relating to our clients and customers.

In accordance with the Information Technology Act 2000, the name and the details of the Grievance Officer at PrimeInvestor is provided below:

Mr. Srikanth Meenakshi
PrimeInvestor Financial Research Pvt. Ltd., Registered office: 659, 4th Avenue, D-Sector, Anna Nagar Western Extension, Chennai 600 101.
Email: [email protected]

11. Mandatory notice:

Clients shall be requested to go through Do’s and Don’ts while dealing with RA as specified in SEBI master circular no. SEBI/HO/MIRSD-POD-1/P/CIR/2024/49 dated May 21, 2024 or as may be specified by SEBI from time to time.

12. Optional Centralised Fee Collection Mechanism:

SEBI has operationalized a centralized fee collection mechanism for IA and RA. Under this mechanism, clients shall pay fees to IAs/RAs through a designated platform/portal administered by a recognized Administration and Supervision body. This is an optional mechanism for the registered entities. At this time, PrimeInvestor has opted out of this fee collection mechanism. Therefore, all subscription payments for the Research Services will be through the modes as specified in Clause 5 of these Terms.

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