New Delhi: REC Limited has raised Rs 500 crore through India’s first pilot issue of tokenized corporate bonds under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Regulatory Sandbox Framework, marking a significant step towards the adoption of blockchain-based infrastructure in the country’s debt markets.
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The pilot issue comprised a base issue of Rs 100 crore and a green shoe option of Rs 400 crore. Bidding was conducted through the Electronic Bidding Platform (EBP) of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
The issue received bids worth Rs 796 crore, translating into an oversubscription of nearly eight times and signalling strong investor interest in the new digital securities framework. REC accepted Rs 500 crore at a coupon rate of 7.30 percent per annum for a tenor of one year and nine months.
The tokenized issuance enabled the pay-in, allotment and listing of the bonds on the same day, facilitating faster settlement compared with conventional debt-market processes. The bonds have been listed on both NSE and BSE.
The pilot was undertaken with the coordinated participation of SEBI, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and market infrastructure institutions, including NPCI, depositories and stock exchanges. The transaction introduces atomic Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) settlement and shared-ledger transparency into the corporate bond market.
Rajesh Kumar, Director (Finance), REC, said the initiative demonstrated the potential of technology-driven reforms to improve market efficiency, reduce turnaround time and strengthen India's capital-market infrastructure.
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He said the Demat 2.0 initiative and tokenisation of corporate bonds represent a significant development in the evolution of India's debt markets, combining digital infrastructure, distributed ledger technology and CBDC-enabled settlement while retaining existing investor protections and regulatory safeguards.
Under the Demat 2.0 framework, securities ownership is recorded and tracked on a permissioned distributed ledger. The system is designed to reduce settlement risks and operational friction while maintaining statutory safeguards and institutional compliance.
The successful pilot issue positions REC among the early adopters of tokenized debt-market infrastructure in India and provides a potential framework for wider adoption of digital securities in the corporate bond market.
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