Overview
- The pilot is planned for September 2026 and will involve REC issuing tokenised corporate bonds worth under 5 billion rupees to a select group of investors.
- SEBI and the Reserve Bank of India are working together to test on-chain delivery‑versus‑payment so cash and securities move at the same time on a distributed ledger.
- Investors must hold two digital accounts to take part: a bank-issued wholesale CBDC wallet for the e-rupee and a new DEMAT 2.0 electronic securities wallet that records token holdings on a DLT chain.
- The bonds will carry an initial three-month lock-in and exchanges aim to open a secondary market by December while the pilot runs for about six to nine months.
- If successful, the experiment could cut settlement time, free up collateral and reduce reconciliation work in India’s ₹60 trillion-plus corporate bond market while testing smart contracts and legal integrations on existing depository systems.