India Tests Tokenized Bonds in $620 Billion Market With Digital Rupee
India’s corporate bond market, valued at about $620 billion, is the testing ground for Demat 2.0, a Securities and Exchange Board of India pilot that represents bonds as tokens on a permissioned distributed ledger. The infrastructure connects to the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency through its Unified Market Interface, enabling atomic settlement in which securities and cash move simultaneously. The bonds retain their existing ISINs, legal status and investor protections, while smart contracts can automate coupon and redemption payments.
SEBI and RBI announced the pilot at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on Sept. 10, 2026. REC Limited became the first issuer on Sept. 7, raising 5 billion rupees from 18 investors. L&T Limited raised another 5 billion rupees from four investors on Sept. 9, while IIFL raised 250 million rupees the same day, taking total issuance to 10.25 billion rupees. The first phase centers on institutional issuance; later stages are expected to add secondary trading through existing request-for-quote platforms and permit retail investor participation.
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The history behind this eventIndia Plans First Tokenized Corporate Bond With Digital Rupee Settlement
The Reserve Bank of India launched its wholesale digital rupee, e₹-W, on Nov. 1, 2022, initially to settle secondary-market trades in government securities. Extending that infrastructure to corporate debt would test whether tokenized securities and central-bank money can move together, enabling near-instant delivery-versus-payment while reducing settlement and operational risk. The initiative would also place India alongside markets including Europe and Hong Kong that are experimenting with blockchain-based bond issuance and settlement.
India plans to launch its first tokenized corporate bond in September 2026, Reuters reported on Aug. 24, citing three people with direct knowledge. State-owned power financier REC will issue the notes to a limited group of investors; the deal size and investor names were not disclosed. Participants will need a bank-provided wholesale CBDC wallet and a DEMAT 2.0 securities wallet being developed by Indian depositories. The bonds will carry a three-month lock-up, and exchanges are expected to build a secondary market by December, outside the conventional electronic book provider platform.
Neuberger and Securitize Launch Multi-Chain Tokenized Bond Fund
Neuberger Berman, which manages more than $500 billion in assets, oversees a fixed-income platform of about $230 billion. Its partnership with digital-securities firm Securitize marks a further push by established asset managers to place real-world assets on public blockchains, potentially streamlining fund issuance, ownership records and transfers while retaining regulated investor-access controls.
The firms announced in August 2026 the launch of HINC, Neuberger’s first tokenized high-yield bond fund. The product will be available across Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Sui, combining Neuberger’s fixed-income investment capabilities with Securitize’s regulated tokenization infrastructure. The multi-chain structure is intended to give eligible investors broader blockchain-based access to the fund rather than restricting distribution to a single network.
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