Maharashtra, India’s richest state, is preparing policies to tokenize up to 40% to 50% of selected electricity transmission assets as a way to finance additional power lines and solar storage centers without selling state infrastructure outright.
The plan was outlined by Praveen Pardeshi, chief economic adviser to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and CEO of the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation, at The Box Launch, an invitation-only event at the World Trade Center in Mumbai hosted by RealX and MST Blockchain.
Under the proposed structure, investors who purchase tokens tied to a defined portion of a transmission line would receive a share of revenue earned by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company, or Maharashtra Transco. Pardeshi said proceeds could fund new transmission capacity and storage centers that hold solar power until demand rises. He rejected the idea that the model amounts to wholesale privatization, saying: “Tokenization doesn’t mean privatization wholesale; it means circulating the capital to a larger number of holders.”
The financing need is driven by a mismatch between solar output and grid capacity. According to Pardeshi, electricity can trade for as little as two paise per unit during surplus hours, while distribution companies may pay 16 to 18 rupees per unit at peak demand. Token-funded infrastructure could help move and store low-cost solar power for use during daily peaks.
Maharashtra is also drafting the Maharashtra Digital and Land Token Asset Trading Act, known as the DELTA Act. If enacted, it would make Maharashtra the first Indian state with legislation specifically covering blockchain-based property tokenization. Pardeshi highlighted Express Towers, a Mumbai commercial building tokenized through a REIT structure, as a working example.
At the national level, India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India has launched a tokenized corporate bond pilot under a system called Demat 2.0. Three companies raised a combined 10.25 billion rupees, roughly $107 million. Public-sector lender REC raised 5 billion rupees from 18 investors, engineering group Larsen & Toubro raised another 5 billion rupees from four investors, and non-bank lender IIFL raised 250 million rupees from one investor.
The bond pilot uses a distributed ledger connected to the Reserve Bank of India’s wholesale central bank digital currency. Atomic settlement means bonds and payments move simultaneously, removing the usual two-to-three-day settlement delay. Investors can hold the bonds in existing Demat accounts without new KYC checks. SEBI said India is the first country to combine native bond issuance on a distributed ledger, depository-held records, and CBDC settlement within regulated market infrastructure. Later phases are expected to open secondary trading and retail access.
