Mumbai, Sept. 7 -- The issue drew an overwhelming response, recording a book-building of Rs.7.96 billion and oversubscription of nearly eight times.

Power sector financier REC, under the Ministry of Power, has achieved a landmark in India's capital markets with the issuance of the country's first pilot issue of tokenised corporate bonds under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Regulatory Sandbox Framework.

The size of the pilot issue was Rs.5 billion, comprising a base issue of Rs.1 billion with a green shoe option of Rs.4 billion. Bidding was undertaken on the Electronic Bidding Platform (EBP) of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). Demonstrating deep investor confidence in market innovation, the issue received an overwhelming response, clocking a book-building of Rs.7.96 billion and oversubscribed nearly eight times. REC accepted Rs.5 billion at a coupon rate of 7.30 per cent per annum for a tenor of 21 months.

The tokenised mode enabled faster settlement, with pay-in, allotment and listing of the bonds completed on the same day. The bonds are listed on both NSE and BSE.

Rajesh Kumar, Director of Finance, REC, said, "We express our deepest appreciation to SEBI for its visionary leadership in strengthening India's capital markets through progressive regulations, active stakeholder consultation, and technology-driven reforms. SEBI's continued focus on ease of doing business, improved market efficiency, and faster turnaround of regulatory processes has significantly enhanced the depth and resilience of India's financial markets."

This issuance represents a transformative leap forward in India's capital market, introducing atomic delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement and shared-ledger transparency. "The Demat 2.0 initiative and tokenisation of corporate bonds represent a landmark step in the evolution of India's debt markets. By leveraging digital infrastructure, distributed ledger technology, and CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)-enabled settlement while preserving existing investor protections and regulatory safeguards, SEBI is laying the foundation for the next generation of capital market infrastructure," added Kumar.

Through Demat 2.0, securities ownership is securely recorded and tracked on a permissioned distributed ledger, eliminating settlement risks and operational friction while maintaining statutory safeguards and institutional compliance.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Infrastructure Today.