Indian Government Bond rates are used as discount rate under accounting standards such as Ind AS 19 to estimate the present day value of the benefit obligations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FBIL/FIMMDA Rates
One of the authoritative sources for Government of India Securities (G-Secs) bond rates is published by FBIL (Financial Benchmarks India Pvt Ltd), a body authorised by the Reserve Bank of India for valuation of G-Secs. Earlier FIMMDA used to publish the rates on their website, however from 31st March 2018, FBIL has taken over valuation of Indian Government Securities as an independent benchmark administrator. As such, all government entities use rates published by FBIL for valuations.
RBI notification in this regard: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11234&Mode=0
FBIL rates can be found here: https://fbil.org.in/modules/Archives/downloads.aspx
Rates are also published by Clearing Corporation of India:
https://www.ccilindia.com/RiskManagement/SecuritiesSegment/Pages/CCILRupeeYieldCurveDaily.aspx
Rates published by business/investing websites
While other websites like Investing.com also publish India G-sec yield rates, they are not published by under the supervision or authority of RBI/Indian Government. Earlier several websites such as Bloomberg.com, Reuters.com etc used to publish their own rates for India G-Sec yields, however these websites carry a disclaimer that they are informational sites only and provide general quotes, charts and analysis for various stocks, bonds and other global financial instruments. FBIL continues to be the entity authorised by RBI for valuation of Indian Government Securities.
Usage of Bond Rates
These G-Sec bond rates are used to discount the long term employee benefits in accordance with IND AS 19 and AS 15, which stipulate that the discounting rate shall be determined by reference to market yields at the end of the reporting period on government bonds. This is as per Para 78/83 of IND AS 19 and Para 78 of AS - 15(R)