India Launches Tokenization Pilot for $620 Billion Corporate Bond Market

India has begun a pilot to tokenize its corporate bond market, valued at approximately $620 billion, according to CoinDesk. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) Demat 2.0 initiative converts corporate bonds into digital tokens, while payment settlement is handled through the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency, the digital rupee. The pilot links tokenized bond transactions with digital-rupee settlement as part of the market’s initial phase. Later stages are expected to introduce secondary trading and broader retail access. The initiative combines distributed digital representation of corporate bonds with settlement through the RBI’s wholesale digital currency, although the supplied information does not specify participating institutions, transaction volumes or a launch date beyond the September 11, 2026 report.