REC seeks bids for up to 5 billion rupees in tokenized bonds

REC Ltd, India’s government-owned power sector financier, is opening the bidding window for what amounts to the country’s first tokenized corporate bond issuance. The offering could reach up to 5 billion rupees, roughly $53 million, in a pilot that stitches together distributed ledger technology, a new electronic wallet system, and the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency. How the deal is structured The bond issuance starts with a base size of 1 billion rupees. On top of that sits a greenshoe option, a mechanism that lets the issuer expand the offering if demand warrants it, potentially adding another 4 billion rupees to bring the total to the 5 billion rupee ceiling. The bonds are due in May 2028, giving them a relatively short maturity window. Bidding is expected to kick off in early September 2026, with the formal launch timed to coincide with the Global Fintech Fest in mid-September. This is not a retail play. Only institutional investors who hold active securities accounts and RBI wholesale CBDC wallets can participate in the bidding process. After issuance, holders face a mandatory three-month lock-in period before any secondary market trading becom...