India plans first tokenized bonds with wholesale CBDC
India plans first tokenized corporate bonds in a September pilot, with state-controlled REC Limited issuing under 5 billion rupees ($57 million) in debt. Select investors will settle purchases with wholesale CBDC, while a new DEMAT 2.0 wallet records holdings on distributed ledger technology.
Key Takeaways
- India reportedly aims to test its first tokenized corporate bonds in September, according to a Reuters-cited report.
- State-controlled REC Limited plans to issue less than 5 billion Indian rupees (about $57 million) in tokenized debt.
- Buyers would use a bank-provided wholesale CBDC wallet plus a new DEMAT 2.0 securities wallet built by depositories.
- The Reserve Bank of India and SEBI are working together on the initiative; bonds face a three-month lockup, with a secondary market eyed by December.
- The pilot may be unveiled at an annual fintech event in Mumbai and will start with a select investor group only.
The move, if confirmed, would link India’s wholesale central bank digital currency with blockchain-recorded corporate debt in a live market test. Coverage from Cointelegraph attributes the details to Reuters, which cited three sources with direct knowledge of the plans. Officials at the RBI, SEBI and REC had not commented publicly when that report was published.
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What is the September tokenized bond pilot?
India reportedly plans to launch its first tokenized corporate bonds in September as a pilot using blockchain-based transactions settled with a CBDC. REC Limited, a state-controlled power infrastructure finance company, would issue the debt.
The offering is described as less than 5 billion Indian rupees, or roughly $57 million. Access would initially be limited to a select group of investors, and the pilot could be unveiled at an annual financial technology event in Mumbai in September.
How would wholesale CBDC payments work for buyers?
One source told Reuters that India’s CBDC will be used to buy the tokenized bonds. Participants would need two digital accounts: a wholesale CBDC wallet provided by a bank, and a new electronic securities wallet.
Indian securities depositories are developing that wallet, called DEMAT 2.0, to record bond holdings with distributed ledger technology. The RBI and SEBI are working together on the initiative, according to the same reporting.
When could trading open after the lockup?
The bonds would carry an initial three-month lockup period. Exchanges are expected to develop a secondary market for the tokenized bonds by December, the report said.
That timeline would give regulators and market infrastructure providers a short window to test issuance, settlement and, later, secondary trading under controlled conditions. Until exchanges build that market, liquidity would remain limited to the pilot’s select participants.
Why does this matter for India’s digital markets?
Pairing tokenized securities with wholesale CBDC settlement is a practical test of how digital rupee rails and DLT-based custody can work together in capital markets. The pilot’s capped size and closed investor set point to a cautious, infrastructure-first approach rather than a broad retail rollout.
Because the plans remain report-based and the RBI, SEBI and REC had not responded at publication, readers should treat timelines and product details as provisional until officials confirm them. Still, a Mumbai unveil in September would put India’s first tokenized corporate bond experiment on a near-term calendar for markets watchers.