Current Context: On 10 September 2026, SEBI and RBI launched the “Demat 2.0” pilot for tokenised corporate bonds at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai. NSE facilitated electronic bidding under the initiative. REC, Larsen & Toubro and IIFL Finance issued tokenised bonds collectively worth ₹1,025 crore, though the amount is commonly reported as approximately ₹1,000 crore.
Key Points:
- The pilot combines distributed-ledger technology with RBI’s wholesale digital rupee for settlement.
- Issuing companies: REC raised ₹500 crore, L&T raised ₹500 crore and IIFL Finance raised ₹25 crore.
- Tokenised bond: It is a digital representation of a conventional corporate bond recorded through blockchain or distributed-ledger technology.
- First issuance: REC completed India’s first tokenised corporate bond issuance on 7 September 2026.
- Settlement mechanism: Transactions were settled through RBI’s wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
- Atomic settlement: Securities and money are exchanged simultaneously through the delivery-versus-payment mechanism, reducing settlement risk.
- Demat 2.0: The pilot maintains bond-ownership records on a distributed ledger while preserving existing legal and investor protections.
- Market institutions: NSE, BSE, NSDL, CDSL, NPCI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank participated in the initiative.
- Benefits: Tokenisation can provide faster settlement, transparent ownership records and lower reconciliation and administrative costs.
- Initial access: The pilot primarily covers institutional investors; retail participation may be introduced later.
- Significance: It represents an important step towards using regulated blockchain technology in India’s corporate debt market.
Question
Q1. Which form of money was used to settle India’s first tokenised corporate bond transactions?a) Retail digital rupee
b) Commercial-bank stablecoin
c) RBI wholesale CBDC
d) Cryptocurrency
Answer: c) The tokenised bonds were settled using RBI’s wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency through an atomic delivery-versus-payment mechanism, in which the bond and payment are transferred simultaneously.
