India’s Securities and Exchange Board, or SEBI, said three issuers have raised a combined 102.5 billion rupees, about $1.072 billion, through tokenized corporate bonds under its Demat 2.0 pilot. The program uses distributed ledger technology to issue, hold and settle corporate debt.
REC completed the first deal on Sept. 7, raising 50 billion rupees with participation from 18 investors. L&T raised another 50 billion rupees on Sept. 9, subscribed by four investors, while IIFL raised 2.5 billion rupees the same day from one investor.
SEBI said Demat 2.0 records corporate bonds as native digital tokens on the depository’s distributed ledger and connects to wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, through the Reserve Bank of India’s unified market interface. That structure enables atomic settlement of both bonds and funds and could cut post-issuance fund receipt time from the usual two to three days to the same day. SEBI also said tokenized bonds do not create a new category of corporate debt, and that ISIN, issuer obligations, coupon, maturity, covenants, ratings and investor rights remain the same as in conventional electronic corporate bonds. The first phase is limited to institutional issuance, with secondary trading and retail participation planned for later stages.
India’s Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) said three issuers have raised a combined 102.5 billion rupees, or about $1.072 billion, through tokenized corporate bonds under the Demat 2.0 pilot.
Three issuers completed fundraising under the pilot
According to SEBI, the pilot uses distributed ledger technology to issue, hold and settle corporate bonds.
REC completed the first transaction on Sept. 7, raising 50 billion rupees with 18 investors participating. L&T raised 50 billion rupees on Sept. 9, with four investors subscribing to the deal. IIFL raised 2.5 billion rupees on the same day, with one investor participating.
Atomic settlement links bonds and funds
SEBI said Demat 2.0 records corporate bonds as native digital tokens on the depository’s distributed ledger. It also connects wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, through the Reserve Bank of India’s unified market interface, allowing atomic settlement of both bonds and funds.
SEBI said the setup could reduce the time for issuers to receive funds after issuance from the traditional two to three days to the same day.
SEBI says tokenization does not create a new bond class
SEBI said tokenized bonds do not form a new category of corporate debt. Their ISIN, issuer obligations, coupon, maturity date, covenants, ratings and investor rights remain the same as those of traditional dematerialized corporate bonds.
At present, the first phase of the pilot is limited to institutional issuance. Secondary trading and retail investor participation will be introduced in later phases.
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