India's SEBI Launches Demat 2.0, Tokenizing $620B Corporate Bond Market

India's Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has launched Demat 2.0, a pilot program that tokenizes corporate bonds using blockchain technology.

The initiative connects tokenized securities with the Reserve Bank of India's wholesale digital rupee, marking one of the clearest signs yet that regulated institutions in India are ready to bring real-world assets onto distributed ledgers.

Demat 2.0 builds on electronic demat accounts that Indian investors already use to hold stocks and bonds.

The pilot focuses on primary issuance among institutional players, with several major issuers having already tested the new system.