SEBI completes Phase 1 of Demat 2.0 bond pilot with three issuers, planning secondary trading next
India's regulator finished the initial digital bond trial involving three companies and aims to add resale market capabilities soon.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) finished its first phase of a new digital bond experiment on Thursday. Three companies took part in this pilot program for corporate bonds. SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey confirmed the success during media talks at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai. He announced that the next step involves secondary-market trading. The project uses distributed ledger technology, known as DLT, instead of building a separate market structure. SEBI stated the initiative is regulatory rather than a new asset class. The system replaced older methods with simultaneous processing for both money and securities movements. Settlement relies on the Reserve Bank of India's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Previous technology required sequential steps for payment and registration. The new framework allows these actions to happen at the same time.
