India tokenises $620B corporate bond market
- India has launched Demat 2.0 to issue and settle tokenised corporate bonds.
- REC, Larsen & Toubro and IIFL Finance have raised ₹1,025 crore through the pilot.
- Digital-rupee settlement could enable automated corporate actions and later secondary trading.
India has launched a blockchain pilot for tokenised corporate bonds across its US$620 billion market, using central-bank digital money for settlement.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has launched Demat 2.0, allowing regulated institutions to issue bonds as digital tokens on distributed ledgers.
REC, Larsen & Toubro and IIFL Finance have already raised a combined ₹1,025 crore through the system, while the bonds retain conventional investor rights.
The tokenised bonds connect with the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale digital rupee through the Unified Market Interface.
This structure allows the bond and payment to settle together, reducing exposure when one side of a conventional transaction fails before the other.
Smart contracts could also handle interest payments and redemptions, while later phases are expected to introduce secondary-market trading and retail access.
The pilot brings tokenisation into India’s regulated financial system, keeping banks, depositories and central-bank money at the centre of the infrastructure.
