India: SEBI Pilots Blockchain CBDC Bond Settlement

India has settled ₹1,025 crore in corporate bonds through the SEBI Demat 2.0 pilot that pairs permissioned distributed ledger technology with the central bank’s wholesale CBDC. REC handled ₹500 crore, L&T another ₹500 crore and IIFL Finance ₹25 crore. Ownership updates occur instantly on DLT while RBI’s e₹ executes the cash leg, achieving simultaneous delivery-versus-payment. The system stays closed to retail investors and runs on permissioned rails rather than public networks such as Bitcoin. This setup accelerates institutional bond settlement cycles inside India’s regulated markets.