Non-convertible debenture

A corporate bond that cannot be converted into equity, issued either publicly or privately, and a major funding source for Indian non-bank lenders.

Public issues are rated, listed and available to retail investors, which makes the rating and the security cover the two things a buyer should read.

The yield offered is the market's assessment of risk. A non-bank offering meaningfully more than its peers for the same tenor is being told something by the market, and the rating agencies typically follow rather than lead.

Compare the offered yield to a government bond of the same tenor. That gap is the credit spread.