SEBI launches Demat 2.0 for tokenized corporate bonds

The Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India announced Demat 2.0 at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on 10 September 2026. The Economic Times (Akash Podishetti, 10 September 2026) reported the launch. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra and SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey made the announcement together.

This is a market-infrastructure pilot for tokenised corporate bonds with wholesale e-rupee settlement. It is not a retail crypto listing, and it is not a new bond asset class.

SEBI's 10 September launch note says the bond is created as a digital token on a distributed ledger maintained by market infrastructure institutions and owned by the depositories. Settlement links to the RBI wholesale CBDC (e-rupee) through the Unified Market Interface, so the bond and the money move together. Smart contracts can automate interest and redemption into CBDC wallets.

Three issuers are already on the rails. REC raised Rs 500 crore from 18 investors on 7 September. L&T raised Rs 500 crore from 4 investors on 9 September. IIFL raised Rs 25 crore from 1 investor on 9 September. Combined, that is Rs 1,025 crore, about $107 million.

The legal instrument stays a normal corporate bond. Investor rights, credit-rating rules, debenture trustees, listing, and disclosures continue to apply. Chairman Pandey told Hindu Business Line the project does not create a new asset class and does not require a new demat account or a fresh KYC.

Phase one is issuance. Later phases add RFQ trading, then retail access. SEBI says issuers can receive funds on the same day as bidding, versus about two to three days today. Secondary trading and retail are not live.

Do not treat India's broader corporate-bond market as the amount already tokenised. The hard pilot figure is Rs 1,025 crore.

Related tokenization files include South Korea's February 2027 securities roadmap, the SEC's transfer-agent rewrite, Citi and DBS weekend USD settlement on Swift, and Treasury's GENIUS Act stablecoin rules.

If you issue or buy Indian corporate bonds, treat Demat 2.0 as a sandbox issuance rail with same-day wholesale e-rupee settlement, not a live RFQ book or a retail product. Size any pilot ticket to the Rs 1,025 crore already done, and enable a Demat 2.0 depository flag plus a wholesale CBDC wallet before you assume you can settle.