The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has inaugurated a new data centre and a cybersecurity training institute in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to strengthen the country’s digital financial infrastructure and improve the reliability of critical financial services. The facilities were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 25, 2026, and are expected to support the uninterrupted functioning of key banking and payment systems.
The new data centre will host mission-critical systems, including the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) platforms, which facilitate financial transactions across the country. It will also support the RBI’s e-Kuber platform, used for banking operations involving the central government, state governments and banks, along with other applications used by entities regulated by the central bank.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the facility would help improve service quality, reduce downtime and strengthen the resilience of India’s financial system. He noted that information technology has become central to the functioning of the central bank, as its applications support services used by the public, financial institutions and government bodies.
The facility has received Tier IV accreditation from the Uptime Institute, the highest tier in its data centre classification system. It is designed to include four independent data centres, adding redundancy and supporting operational continuity. The infrastructure will be operated by the RBI itself rather than relying on third-party cloud service providers.
Although the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the final settlement of UPI transactions takes place through the RBI’s data centres and applications. The new facility is therefore expected to strengthen the underlying infrastructure that supports India’s digital payment ecosystem.
The choice of Bhubaneswar also reflects the RBI’s focus on geographical diversification. The central bank already operates three data centres in Maharashtra, and the new location offers greater distance from these facilities while being situated in a different seismic zone. The availability of skilled talent in the region was another factor behind the decision.
The data centre is part of a larger ₹169 crore complex spread across 18.55 acres at Info Valley-II in Jatni, near Bhubaneswar. Two-thirds of the premises has been allocated to the cybersecurity training institute, while the remaining one-third is dedicated to the data centre.
The accompanying institute will train RBI personnel, bank employees and professionals from other financial-sector organisations in cybersecurity and emerging technologies. Its focus areas will include artificial intelligence, big data analytics, quantum technology and blockchain. The institute will also undertake research aimed at improving the security, efficiency and resilience of financial systems.
The establishment of the training institute comes as financial institutions face evolving cybersecurity challenges, including risks associated with increasingly sophisticated digital technologies. By developing specialised skills and supporting research, the facility aims to strengthen the sector’s ability to respond to emerging threats.
Together, the two facilities represent an investment in the technological infrastructure supporting India’s financial system. As digital banking and electronic payments continue to expand, reliable data infrastructure and stronger cybersecurity capabilities will remain important to maintaining service continuity and public confidence in financial services.
