India Unveils Groundbreaking Blockchain Pilot for Tokenized Corporate Bonds

TL;DR:

• India launched Demat 2.0 to issue tokenized corporate bonds and settle payments using the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale digital rupee.
• REC, Larsen & Toubro and IIFL Finance have already raised a combined ₹1,025 crore while preserving conventional interest, maturities and investor rights.
• Future phases may add smart-contract corporate actions, secondary trading and retail access, while keeping banks, depositories and regulated institutions central to the tokenized market structure in India.

India has begun testing blockchain settlement for corporate bonds through Demat 2.0, a pilot launched by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The program allows bonds to be issued as digital tokens on a distributed ledger operated by regulated market institutions, while payments settle through the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale digital rupee. The crucial shift is that India is moving tokenization directly into its existing financial infrastructure rather than building a parallel crypto market. The country’s corporate bond market is worth about $620 billion, giving the pilot unusually large potential scope.

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