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India's First Tokenized Bond Issued on Blockchain
11 Sep
Summary
- MSE facilitated India's first tokenized corporate bond issuance.
- IIFL Finance issued the bond on MSE's Electronic Bond Platform.
- Settlement occurred using Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
On September 11, 2026, the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSE) achieved a significant milestone by facilitating the country's first tokenized corporate bond issuance. This event occurred under the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) Demat 2.0 pilot initiative, a regulatory sandbox designed to modernize debt market infrastructure.
IIFL Finance Ltd was the issuer of this groundbreaking bond, utilizing MSE's Electronic Bond Platform (MSE EBP). The transaction marked the first instance of a corporate bond being natively issued on a distributed ledger in India. Ownership records are maintained with statutory depositories, and critically, settlement was conducted using Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Launched at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, the pilot was introduced by SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey and Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjeev Malhotra. This initiative operates within the existing regulated market framework, aiming to bring faster settlement, enhanced transparency, and broader market access to India's corporate bond segment. MSE Managing Director and CEO Latika S Kundu highlighted the pilot's role in shaping India's debt markets, emphasizing how tokenization integrates advanced technology with established market infrastructure to boost efficiency and security in capital formation. The Demat 2.0 framework signifies a broader regulatory push to incorporate blockchain-based instruments into mainstream financial markets under controlled conditions.
