New Delhi, May 4 -- In My Financial Career, Stephen Leacock's short story set in the early 1900s, the protagonist walks into a bank in London with the humble ambition of opening an account. What follows is a masterpiece of comic misadventure - guided from counter to counter, overwhelmed by the machinery of finance, he grows so distraught that he abandons the enterprise and resolves to keep his money in his socks.

One hundred years on, marble counters have been replaced by slick apps and frictionless onboarding. Yet Leacock's essential insight endures: when it comes to financial products, what you are shown and what you get are rarely the same thing.

In India, bonds have never been more fashionable. Fintech platforms have made buying one...