Suresh Darak: The Unfunded Fintech Founder Democratizing India's 50 Lakh Crore Bond Market
CA-turned-entrepreneur Suresh Darak built Bondbazaar into India's top-3 bond platform without venture funding, transforming 50+ step processes into 1-minute trades
In a fintech ecosystem obsessed with venture capital milestones and unicorn valuations, Suresh Darak represents a fascinating anomaly. The Chartered Accountant-turned-entrepreneur has built Bondbazaar into one of India's leading online bond platforms without raising a single rupee in external funding, while competitors have collectively raised millions. His contrarian approach to building sustainable businesses offers a masterclass in capital efficiency and long-term thinking.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights
The Foundation: From Numbers to Innovation
Suresh Darak's entrepreneurial story is deeply rooted in his professional foundation as a Chartered Accountant and over two decades of experience in India's financial markets. Unlike many technology entrepreneurs who approach finance as outsiders seeking disruption, Darak is the quintessential insider who witnessed firsthand the inefficiencies plaguing India's debt markets.
His most significant professional tenure was the 13 years spent at L&T Financial Services, where he established and led the Bond Desk and Debt Syndication operations. Under his leadership, these divisions evolved into formidable platforms that facilitated funding for over 500 infrastructure projects across diverse sectors including renewables, roads, metros, ports, airports, railways, and nuclear forgings.
The scale of his impact at L&T Financial Services was substantial. Darak transformed the Bond Desk into a credit-focused powerhouse specializing in infrastructure bonds, bank and NBFC bonds, while managing an active Government Securities book exceeding one billion USD. This experience provided him with granular understanding of institutional bond market mechanics and, more importantly, revealed the stark contrast between institutional efficiency and retail exclusion.
The Entrepreneurial Awakening: Identifying the 200 Lakh Crore Problem
The genesis of Bondbazaar wasn't a sudden epiphany but rather the culmination of years observing a massive market inefficiency. Darak identified what he calls the "200 lakh crore problem" - the astronomical amount of Indian retail money sitting idle in savings accounts, current accounts, and fixed deposits earning minimal returns.
“Around 15 to 20 lakh crore is lying in current accounts where retail is earning 0%. Around 60 to 70 lakh crore is lying in saving accounts where people are earning less than 3% to 4%. Around 100 lakh crore is lying in fixed deposit accounts where people are earning somewhere between 6 to 7%"
This inefficiency becomes stark when compared to bond market returns of 8-14%. The opportunity cost represents one of India's largest wealth leakages, with retail investors unknowingly sacrificing 3-7% annual returns simply due to lack of access to proper investment instruments.
"Everyone is exposed to bond market from their birth. Bond market is more about efficiency. Efficiency at the issuer level, at the investor level."
Building Bondbazaar: The Unfunded Journey
Founded in 2020, Bondbazaar emerged with a clear mission to democratize access to India's bond market for retail investors. The timing was strategic - India's digital public infrastructure had matured, smartphone penetration was widespread, and regulatory changes were creating unprecedented opportunities for financial inclusion.
What sets Bondbazaar apart in the fintech landscape is its unfunded status. While direct competitors like Tap Invest raised 2.3 million USD and Fixerra secured 2.23 million USD in seed funding, Darak chose the contrarian path of bootstrapping. This decision, far from being a constraint, became a defining competitive advantage.
The unfunded approach forced the company to focus on unit economics from day one, build sustainable revenue models, and prioritize customer value over growth metrics. According to Tracxn data, despite zero venture funding, Bondbazaar has achieved a top-three ranking among 14 active competitors in the online bond platform space.
The Technology Revolution: From 50 Steps to One Minute
Perhaps Bondbazaar's most significant achievement is the technological transformation of bond investing. Darak and his team reduced what was historically a cumbersome 50+ step manual process into a seamless one-minute digital transaction.
The traditional bond investing process was riddled with inefficiencies:
Investors had no visibility into available bonds
Pricing was opaque and broker-dependent
Minimum investments were prohibitively high
Settlement required manual money transfers to broker accounts
No standardized documentation or transparency
Bondbazaar's platform addresses each of these pain points through comprehensive digitization. The platform provides access to over 10,000 bonds spanning Government Securities, State Development Loans, corporate bonds across credit spectrums, tax-free bonds, capital gains bonds, and Sovereign Gold Bonds.
Market Position and Revenue Model
The company operates as a SEBI-registered Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP) and maintains memberships with both NSE and BSE, providing the regulatory credibility essential for financial services. The business model centers on primary market revenue, charging issuers for bond placements while offering secondary market trading free of cost to retail investors.
"Primary income is good enough for me because normally people, once I see, because secondary market is slightly illiquid. Once you bought the bonds you want to sell. So it's a combination of both primary and secondary. But primary market income is good enough for me to make money."
The revenue structure reflects industry standards, with merchant banking fees typically in single-digit percentages of issuance size. The transparency requirement mandated by SEBI ensures all fees are disclosed in information memorandums, maintaining regulatory compliance and investor protection.
According to available data, Treasurance Training & Capacity Building Pvt Ltd, associated with the Bondbazaar ecosystem, generated ₹15.4 crore (approximately 1.86 million USD) as of March 31, 2024, indicating substantial business scale despite the unfunded status.
Strategic Partnerships and Market Expansion
Bondbazaar's growth strategy includes strategic partnerships that amplify its market reach and credibility. The most significant alliance is with Trust Group, described as India's largest bond house, providing crucial access to bond supply, market intelligence, and institutional credibility.
In March 2025, the company appointed PHD India, part of the Omnicom Media Group, as its Agency of Record, signaling a strategic shift toward more assertive brand building and customer acquisition. This partnership represents Bondbazaar's evolution from a product-focused startup to a market-ready platform capable of scaling customer acquisition through data-driven media strategies.
The Bold Vision: 4x Equity Market Prediction
Darak's most audacious prediction centers on India's bond market potential. He forecasts the bond market will eventually become four times larger than the equity market, with a robust 20% compound annual growth rate over the next decade. This projection is based on several fundamental drivers:
The current market dynamics support this optimism. India's corporate bond market, valued at ₹50 lakh crore, is growing at 20% annually, while the term loan market (₹110 lakh crore) grows at merely 2-3%. The Debt IPO segment alone is projected to grow from ₹19,000 crore in FY24 to potentially ₹50,000 crore within five years.
"In developed countries, definitely capital market is the biggest and there is hardly any term loan market which exists in developed countries."
Leadership Philosophy: Embracing Uncertainty
Darak's leadership philosophy represents a compelling synthesis of professional prudence and entrepreneurial risk appetite. His transition from the structured, risk-mitigating world of chartered accountancy to embracing business uncertainty offers insights into successful career pivots.
"Learning to enjoy uncertainty is a crucial mindset for anyone looking to make their mark in the world of finance."
This philosophy manifests in Bondbazaar's approach: building core business operations on unshakeable foundations of trust, transparency, and regulatory adherence while enabling intelligent risk-taking at business frontiers such as technology development and market expansion.
Competitive Landscape and Differentiation
The online bond platform market features diverse business models and funding strategies. Bondbazaar competes against venture-backed platforms like Tap Invest (focused on alternative debt solutions like invoice discounting) and Fixerra (B2B API gateway for banking infrastructure), as well as unfunded competitor Aspero.
Bondbazaar's differentiation strategy rests on three pillars: comprehensiveness (over 10,000 bonds), education-first approach, and strategic institutional partnerships. While venture-backed competitors can pursue aggressive marketing and specialized niches, Bondbazaar positions itself as the definitive, all-encompassing platform for the entire bond ecosystem.
The education-first approach becomes particularly crucial as the platform democratizes access to complex financial instruments. Unlike equity investing, where timing and market sentiment drive decisions, bond investing requires understanding of credit risk, interest rate dynamics, and portfolio construction principles.
Regulatory Environment and Industry Leadership
Beyond his role as Bondbazaar's founder, Darak serves as Vice-Chairman of the Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPP) Association, providing him unique insights into regulatory developments and industry challenges. This position enables him to influence policy discussions while ensuring Bondbazaar remains aligned with evolving regulatory requirements.
The regulatory environment has been largely supportive, with SEBI's guidelines enabling OBPP category creation and fostering retail participation. However, Darak acknowledges the complexities of operating in what he terms an "era of complete regulation," where compliance requirements can become intricate.
Risk Management and Market Realities
Despite his optimism about market growth, Darak maintains a pragmatic view of inherent risks. He categorizes key challenges facing the bond market:
Interest rate risk affects long-duration bonds when prevailing rates rise, potentially causing price declines for existing lower-yielding instruments. Currency risk emerges from dollar strengthening and rupee weakening, potentially triggering capital outflows. Credit risk, particularly significant in high-yield segments, requires investor education about the quasi-equity nature of lower-rated corporate bonds.
The platform's approach to risk management emphasizes diversification, education, and transparency. By providing comprehensive information about ratings, cash flows, and credit analysis, Bondbazaar enables informed decision-making rather than speculative investing.
Technology and User Experience Innovation
Bondbazaar's technological innovation extends beyond process digitization to fundamental user experience reimagining. The platform incorporates several breakthrough features:
Automated yield-to-maturity calculations eliminate confusion around bond returns, enabling investors to understand exact returns upfront. Real-time transparent pricing through exchange membership ensures competitive rates without broker markups. Comprehensive information access includes credit ratings, rationale, and detailed cash flow schedules.
The platform design philosophy centers on making bond investing "as familiar as equities," leveraging retail investors' comfort with stock trading platforms developed over the past decade. This approach significantly reduces psychological barriers to entry for unfamiliar asset classes.
Future Trajectory and Market Evolution
Looking ahead, Darak envisions several evolutionary stages for India's bond market. The immediate focus involves expanding retail participation through education and accessibility improvements. Medium-term goals include enhanced liquidity through market-making activities and expanded product offerings.
The long-term vision encompasses India becoming one of the world's largest bond markets, driven by regulatory support, corporate financing needs, and retail investor sophistication. This transformation requires sustained focus on investor education, technological innovation, and market infrastructure development.
Darak's prediction of market doubling every four years implies exponential growth requiring substantial platform scaling. The unfunded approach provides flexibility to pursue organic growth strategies while maintaining operational efficiency and customer focus.
Personal Impact and Industry Recognition
Darak's influence extends beyond Bondbazaar's commercial success to broader industry transformation. His advocacy for retail financial inclusion and transparent market practices has contributed to regulatory discussions and industry best practices development.
The unfunded success story provides an alternative model for fintech entrepreneurs, demonstrating viability of sustainable growth strategies over venture capital-dependent approaches. This model becomes particularly relevant as the startup ecosystem reassesses growth-at-all-costs strategies in favor of profitable, resilient business models.
His background combining deep financial markets expertise with technological innovation positions him as a unique voice in India's fintech evolution, bridging traditional finance and digital transformation.
Redefining Fintech Success
Suresh Darak's journey with Bondbazaar challenges conventional wisdom about fintech success metrics. By prioritizing sustainability over scale, education over acquisition, and efficiency over funding, he has created a platform that democratizes access to India's vast bond market while building a profitable, resilient business.
The 200 lakh crore opportunity he identified represents one of India's largest untapped markets, with potential to transform how an entire generation approaches wealth creation and portfolio construction. As bond markets continue evolving toward retail participation, Darak's vision of a market four times larger than equity appears increasingly achievable.
His story offers valuable lessons for entrepreneurs across sectors: deep domain expertise, contrarian thinking, regulatory compliance, and sustainable business models can create lasting competitive advantages that venture capital alone cannot replicate. In an ecosystem often obsessed with fundraising headlines, Bondbazaar demonstrates the power of focusing on fundamental value creation for customers, partners, and society.
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