India has made significant progress in digitising payments, identity & banking infrastructure over the last decade. Aadhaar enabled digital identity at scale. UPI transformed peer-to-peer & merchant payments. Account aggregation improved financial data portability.

While millions of Indians can move money instantly, most cannot deploy capital beyond basic instruments like savings accounts, fixed deposits & mutual funds. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, MP Raghav Chadha argued that this gap is precisely where asset tokenisation legislation becomes essential.

• The Structural Problem with Today’s Investment Landscape
• What Asset Tokenisation Actually Enables
• Why the Middle Class Stands to Gain the Most
• Why Tokenisation Fits India’s Asset Culture

The Structural Problem with Today’s Investment Landscape

Chadha framed his argument through a familiar lens. Just as UPI brought digital payments to street vendors, rickshaw pullers & small traders, tokenisation could make investment & ownership inclusive.

UPI did not invent money. It simply made transfer frictionless, transparent & universally accessible. Tokenisation, Chadha suggested, can do the same for assets that were historically restricted to the wealthy.

India’s investment ecosystem suffers from three structural limitations:

1. High entry barriers: Commercial real estate, infrastructure projects & private assets require large ticket sizes.
2. Illiquidity: Once invested, capital is often locked for years.
3. Complex intermediaries: Brokers, registries, agents & paperwork add cost & friction.

For the middle class, this means capital often remains idle or over-concentrated in low-yield instruments. Chadha pointed out that despite having savings, most Indians simply lack access to productive asset classes.

What Asset Tokenisation Actually Enables

Asset tokenisation involves converting real-world assets into digital tokens on a blockchain, where each token represents fractional ownership. These tokens can be:

• Bought & sold transparently
• Traded without traditional intermediaries
• Settled instantly
• Programmed with compliance rules

Importantly, tokenisation does not eliminate regulation. Instead, it embeds compliance directly into the asset lifecycle, reducing manual oversight while improving transparency.

To explain tokenisation in practical terms, Chadha used a gold analogy. Today, purchasing 10 grams of physical gold may cost over ₹1.3 lakh. A buyer with ₹500 cannot realistically participate. However, digital gold & gold ETFs changed that equation by allowing fractional ownership.

Tokenisation applies the same principle to:

• Real estate projects
• Infrastructure assets
• Commodities
• Intellectual property
• Private market instruments

A large asset is digitally divided, enabling investors to participate at smaller ticket sizes.

A common person needs more representatives in Parliament who can explain #Blockchain technology in simple terms and clearly show how it benefits everyday people.
This kind of communication helps build trust and drives mainstream adoption. #India needs more such voices in… https://t.co/5lyfL7M1m9— Pooja Ranjan | ranjan.eth (@poojaranjan19) December 16, 2025