Beyond beta: Real-world blockchain applications roll out in India

Europe leads the way when it comes to blockchain adoption. The story there has a lot of private players whose ambitions are bolstered by institutional investors and a strong infrastructure. A recent Nasscom report says that in India, blockchain revolution is mostly driven by the public sector where use cases such as land registry maintenance, medical record maintenance and anti-counterfeiting applications are given top priority. The report suggests that the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector has nearly 50% of all production level blockchain implementations.

Recently, one such instance of a large blockchain application has been implemented by a private bank for a public limited company. In a first-of-its-kind application in Asia, Yes Bank, as an issuing and paying agent (IPA), facilitated the issuance of a Commercial Paper (CP) of Rs. 100 crore using blockchain technology for industrial conglomerate Vedanta. This transaction was completed in partnership with US-based MonetaGo. MonetaGo built the solution using Corda Enterprise, a technology provided by R3, an enterprise blockchain software firm. Asit Oberoi, senior group president and global head- Transaction Banking Group, Yes Bank, says that the implementation ensures reduction in