Demat 2.0 will deliver prompt bond settlement nearer, buying and selling after regulation and market readiness: NSDL MD
Talking with on the sidelines of the World Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, Chandok mentioned the initiative makes use of an “atomic” settlement mechanism the place the switch of the safety and cost happen concurrently.
“You give and take cash immediately. You give your cash immediately. And so settlement cycle is prompt,” Chandok mentioned.
Demat 2.0, a pilot undertaking for tokenised company bonds, was introduced on Thursday on the World Fintech Fest by Reserve Financial institution of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra and Securities and Alternate Board of India Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey.
The pilot is designed to check the issuance, holding, buying and selling and settlement of company bonds as digital tokens utilizing Distributed Ledger Expertise (DLT). It’s linked to the RBI’s wholesale CBDC infrastructure for settlement of the cash leg of transactions.
Chandok mentioned the system consists of two wallets – a securities pockets containing the bond tokens and a forex pockets containing the digital rupee.
“The entire configuration has obtained two wallets, a securities pockets and a forex pockets. The securities pockets homes the tokens and the forex pockets homes the central financial institution digital forex, the rupee CBDC,” he mentioned.Explaining how the method works, Chandok mentioned as soon as bond tokens are allotted to an investor, the switch of the safety and cost can happen concurrently over the digital community.
“It’s an instantaneous, a supply versus cost mechanism of settlement the place the investor components along with his cash and instantly he will get the securities into his demat account,” Chandok mentioned.
He contrasted this with the standard system, the place there’s a time hole between cost and receipt of securities.
“Within the conventional mannequin, you give the cash at this time, you may get the bond tomorrow. So sooner or later locking in of cash now will get changed by an prompt availability of safety,” he mentioned.
Chandok, nevertheless, careworn that Demat 2.0 is at the moment in pilot mode and secondary-market buying and selling within the tokenised bonds just isn’t but out there.
“These are for traders, not merchants,” he mentioned.
He added that because the system matures and strikes into manufacturing mode, investor participation and the flexibility to purchase and promote would rely on rules and the depth of the secondary market.
“It requires acceptance, requires maturity and it requires regulation,” Chandok mentioned.
He additionally mentioned the prevailing Demat system would proceed to function, whereas Demat 2.0 brings the extra functionality of simultaneous settlement.
“The distinction is that is instantaneous. You give and take concurrently,” he mentioned, including that the mechanism lowers settlement danger by eradicating the time lag between the 2 sides of a transaction.
