A company borrows from you for a fixed term, at a rate set before it opens

In a bank deposit you lend to a bank and up to ₹5 lakh per bank is insured by DICGC. In an NCD you lend to a company, nothing is insured, and the rate is higher because the risk is. An NCD also has a fixed end date you cannot break early; you can only sell it to somebody else on the exchange.

Specific assets of the company, mainly its own loan book, are pledged to NCD holders and held for you by a debenture trustee. If the company defaults the trustee enforces that security on your behalf and you rank ahead of unsecured lenders. It does not mean insured, and it does not mean you get everything back.

The same loan, paid to you at different times. A monthly series credits interest to your bank account every month and returns your ₹1,000 at the end. A cumulative series pays nothing until maturity, then one larger amount that includes all the interest. Income now against a bigger sum later. Neither is the better one, and the larger maturity figure is not a larger return.

The coupon is the annual rate printed in the prospectus. The effective yield restates it to account for when the money actually reaches you: interest arriving monthly through the year is worth slightly more than the same total paid once at the end, so the yield sits a little above the coupon.

In principle yes, because these list on BSE. In practice retail NCDs trade thinly, so on any given day there may be no buyer at the price you want. There is no way to break one early the way you can break a deposit. Plan to hold to the end date.

Allotment follows the order applications reach the exchange's electronic book, so an issue can fill and close before its printed closing date. On the day it fills, applications received are allotted proportionately, which means a large application may be scaled down rather than rejected.

₹10,000, being ten NCDs of ₹1,000 each, and then in multiples of ₹1,000. That is the same across every series on both issues, so the choice of series is about tenor and payout rather than about how much you need.

It is added to your total income and taxed at your slab rate, the same as deposit interest, and TDS may apply. A cumulative series is taxed on the interest accruing each year rather than only in the year it is paid out. Confirm your own position with your chartered accountant.

Yes. They are allotted in your name and appear in your own CDSL or NSDL statement, and interest is credited by the issuer directly to your bank account. Money moves from your bank account to the broker. Zenith never holds your money or your securities at any point.

Because what a firm used to offer is part of judging it, and a page that shows only what is currently for sale tells you less than one that does not. A closed issue is marked closed, carries its closing date, and cannot be applied for. Its terms stay visible so you can see what the desk was placing a year ago.