Nandan Nilekani, co-architect of Aadhaar, highlighted the growing momentum for asset tokenisation in India at the Global Fintech Fest 2026. He noted that regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are actively advancing tokenisation initiatives. Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced plans to pass a law to tokenise land, while RBI is considering gold tokenisation and SEBI-RBI collaboration is launching India’s first tokenised corporate bond.
At the event, Nilekani explained asset tokenisation as packaging an asset with all its attributes into a single digital token that can be transferred with full information intact. He cited examples such as government files and currency notes as forms of tokens carrying embedded data. He emphasized that companies have already started issuing tokenised corporate bonds under the new Demat 2.0 framework being developed by SEBI and RBI, signaling active market adoption.
The developments come amid a broader push to digitise and streamline asset ownership and transfer in India. Tokenisation could enhance transparency, liquidity, and efficiency across sectors including real estate, precious metals, and corporate finance. The RBI and SEBI’s involvement marks a regulatory endorsement that could accelerate adoption. Maharashtra’s land tokenisation law would be among the first state-level legal frameworks supporting this digital transformation, positioning India alongside global markets exploring similar innovations.
Maharashtra’s tokenisation law is expected to be enacted soon, while the RBI-SEBI tokenised corporate bond initiative is already underway with companies issuing bonds in this format. These steps represent concrete milestones in India’s evolving digital asset landscape, as articulated by Nilekani at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.