Deployments · platform by National Securities Depository Limited

SEBI Demat 2.0 tokenised corporate bond pilotNew

A SEBI pilot, run with the RBI, in which corporate bonds are issued as native tokens on a private, permissioned ledger owned by India's two depositories, NSDL and CDSL, with NPCI providing technology support. The token is the bond: same ISIN, rating and investor rights. Bonds are bid through the stock exchanges' existing electronic bidding platforms, and the cash leg settles atomically in wholesale digital rupee through the RBI's Unified Markets Interface, with coupons and redemptions paid by smart contract to investors' CBDC wallets. REC, Larsen & Toubro and IIFL raised INR 10.25bn (₹1,025 crore) in September 2026. The first stage is for institutional investors only; secondary trading on existing RFQ platforms and retail access come later.

AnnouncedProof of conceptPilotLive (limited)Live (scaled)

Pilot since 7 Sep 2026^[1] — Real issuances in SEBI's regulatory sandbox; stage I (issuance and servicing, institutional investors). · Reviewed 13d ago

Assets: Debt security^[2]
Corporate bonds issued natively on the depositories' ledger
Networks: Unknown ledger Not disclosed^[2]
Private, permissioned DLT owned by the depositories; technology not named.
Use cases: Primary issuance^[1]Delivery versus payment (DvP)^[1][2]Asset servicing^[2]Secondary trading^[2]
Jurisdictions: India

Participants

Securities and Exchange Board of IndiaOperator^[2]India
National Securities Depository LimitedOperator, Platform provider^[4]India
Central Depository Services (India)Operator, Platform provider^[4]India
National Payments Corporation of IndiaTechnology provider^[2]India
Reserve Bank of IndiaCash leg provider^[1]India
REC LimitedIssuer^[1]India
Larsen & ToubroIssuer^[1]India
IIFL FinanceIssuer^[1]India
State Bank of IndiaInvestor^[5]India
Axis BankInvestor^[5]India
Stock exchanges running ledger nodes and the bidding platforms, and banks providing investors' CBDC wallets, not named by SEBI.^[2]

Assets

Moves across networks

direct linkAtomic swap or settlement^[1]Ledger connected to the RBI's wholesale CBDC through the Unified Markets Interface for atomic DvP; both legs are tokens (bond token and wholesale e-rupee), so atomic under the 2026-10-26 test (was synchronised-settlement).

Metrics

10,250,000,000 INRTokenised bonds issued · as of 10 Sep 2026^[1]
₹1,025 crore across three issuers.
3 issuersIssuers · as of 10 Sep 2026^[1]

Timeline

Happened 10 Sep 2026 · Announcement · recorded 18 Oct 2026
The RBI Governor and SEBI Chairman announce the pilot at Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai; SEBI publishes FAQs setting out three stages.^[1][2][3]
Happened 9 Sep 2026 · Production milestone · recorded 18 Oct 2026
Larsen & Toubro (INR 5bn) and IIFL (INR 250m) issue the second and third tokenised bonds.^[1][4]
Happened 7 Sep 2026 · First transaction · recorded 18 Oct 2026
REC issues the first tokenised corporate bond under Demat 2.0, raising INR 5bn from 18 investors.^[1]

Sources

[1]Successful launch of “Demat 2.0” Pilot project for Tokenised Corporate Bonds — Securities and Exchange Board of India, 10 Sep 2026. Accessed 18 Oct 2026. PR No. 56/2026; text in the attached PDF (sebi_data/attachdocs/sep-2026/1789039783353.pdf)..A
[2]FAQs on Demat 2.0: Pilot for Tokenised Corporate Bonds — Securities and Exchange Board of India, 10 Sep 2026. Accessed 18 Oct 2026.A
[3]Chairman, SEBI delivered a keynote address and participated in a panel discussion during Global Fintech Fest 2026 — Securities and Exchange Board of India, 10 Sep 2026. Accessed 18 Oct 2026.A
[4]Two more Indian tokenized bonds issued, as central bank eyes gold next — Ledger Insights, 11 Sep 2026. Accessed 18 Oct 2026. Names NSDL and CDSL as the depositories that own the ledger; partly paywalled..C
[5]SEBI, RBI launch ‘Demat 2.0’ pilot for corporate bond tokenisation | Banking-and-finance News - The Indian Express — The Indian Express, 10 Sep 2026. Accessed 6 Nov 2026.C

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