The three premier credit rating agencies have assigned AAA ratings to the bonds: AAA by Crisil, LAAA by ICRA and AAA by Care. ``The ratings signify highest safety with regard to timely payment of principal and interest,'' ICICI said.

The issue offers various options under four types of Bonds -- encash bond, tax saving bond, regular income bond and the money multiplier bond (in the nature of deep discount bond).

``Encash bond offers the investor growing interest with an option to withdraw his money before maturity at any of the specified ICICI locations. After one year, the investor can access his savings on any workingday. All original individual allottees will have an option to redeem the bond at its face value of Rs 5,000 after the completion of one year from the deemed date of allotment till one month prior to maturity date. An investor can redeem up to 50 bonds having total face value of Rs 2.50 lakh,'' it said.

By investing in the tax saving bonds, investors can save long-term capital gains tax under Section 54 EA of the Income Tax Act 1961, by investing the net sale consideration for three years. Under the regular income bond, an investor can invest for three years and earn regular income on a monthly, half-yearly or annual basis.