India's Tokenized Corporate Bonds Raise $17 Million in Pilot Program

India has successfully raised $17 million (approximately 144 billion won) through a pilot program for tokenized corporate bonds involving three issuers. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced the launch of its 'Demat 2.0' pilot initiative in a statement on September 10. Corporate bonds are issued as digital tokens on a distributed ledger, with securities and payment settled simultaneously via the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) wholesale digital rupee. According to reports citing SEBI's announcement, REC raised 50 billion rupees on September 7, Larsen & Toubro raised 50 billion rupees on September 9, and IIFL Finance raised 25 billion rupees on the same day.