India launches tokenized bond pilot with $107M issued
Summary
India’s SEBI and RBI launched a pilot for tokenized corporate bonds using Demat 2.0, a distributed-ledger system tied to the central bank’s wholesale CBDC via the Unified Market Interface. Three issuers—REC, Larsen & Toubro, and IIFL—raised a combined 10.25 billion rupees from investors through the new setup. The system lets issuers receive funds on bidding day, uses atomic settlement to remove payment-transfer delays, and can automate coupon and redemption payments with smart contracts. Investors can hold these bonds in existing Demat accounts without new KYC, but must enable Demat 2.0 and use a CBDC wallet for settlement. SEBI said later phases may add secondary trading and retail access.
