India's SEBI Reviews Debt Disclosure Rules, Plans 6-9 Month Bond Tokenisation Pilot
Updated
Updated · Reuters · May 26
India's SEBI Reviews Debt Disclosure Rules, Plans 6-9 Month Bond Tokenisation Pilot
1 articles · Updated · Reuters · May 26
Summary
SEBI said it is weighing equity-style disclosure requirements for listed debt securities, a shift aimed at tightening transparency and investor protection in India's bond market.
Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the regulator also plans a pilot to tokenise corporate bonds within six to nine months, using digital ledger technology to speed settlement.
The tokenisation push would turn bonds into digital tokens on a shared ledger, which SEBI says could make trading faster, cheaper and more transparent.
The twin moves are part of a broader effort to deepen India's corporate bond market, which remains less developed than the country's equity market.
Is India moving fast enough to compete in the multi-trillion dollar race for tokenized assets?
As India's bond market goes digital, can its laws protect investors from sophisticated cyber threats?
SEBI's Corporate Bond Tokenisation Pilot (2026-2027): Transforming India's Debt Market for Liquidity and Inclusion
Overview
SEBI is preparing to launch a pilot program in late 2026 or early 2027 to tokenise corporate bonds, marking a major step in modernising India’s financial markets. This initiative will convert traditional bonds into digital tokens using distributed ledger technology, creating digital representations of bonds. The goal is to introduce equity-style norms for debt instruments, enable near-instant settlements, and greatly enhance transparency throughout the trading lifecycle. This pilot is part of SEBI’s broader strategy to deepen India’s debt markets, making bond trading faster, cheaper, and more accessible for a wider range of investors.