$620 billion India corporate bond market to be tokenized via digital rupee settlement
India plans to digitize its $620 billion corporate bond market using the digital rupee as a settlement tool through a SEBI Demat 2.0 pilot.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is piloting a program called Demat 2.0, which aims to convert corporate bonds into digital tokens. Under this initiative, payments for these bonds will be settled using the Reserve Bank of India's wholesale digital rupee. This project targets the country's corporate bond market, which has a value of $620 billion. The current phase focuses on turning these financial instruments into digital assets within a trading platform. SEBI stated that secondary market trading and retail investor access are expected to begin in future phases. The pilot involves setting up an infrastructure where tokens represent claims to the underlying bond obligations. While specific dates for full rollout were not announced, officials indicated this system will integrate with existing clearing mechanisms. The move represents a significant step toward modernizing India's payments architecture for large-scale corporate debt.
