Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) state-of-the-art Greenfield Data Center and Cyber Security Training Institute in Jatni, Odisha. This center is located in the InfoValley-II area near Bhubaneswar, with the primary objective of strengthening the country's banking system and enhancing digital data security.
The estimated cost for this project is around ₹169 to ₹170 crore, and the entire complex spans 18.55 acres of land. A total of four modern data centers have been built in this complex, which will be used to support essential digital systems and payment settlement functions of the RBI.
There is a rapid increase in the use of online banking and digital payments currently, which necessitates a robust technological infrastructure. The data center stores and processes data through large servers and networking systems. This new center by the RBI will support critical digital systems and also enhance the capability to keep services running continuously and restore systems during any technical failure or other issue.
This data center has received Tier IV certification from the Uptime Institute, which is considered the highest category for data centers. This implies that extremely robust arrangements are in place for backup and handling failures in power, cooling, and other essential systems. However, this certification does not guarantee that the center can never be subjected to a cyber attack; it primarily relates to the robustness of the data center's infrastructure and its capacity for continuous operation.
Along with the data center, an Enterprise Computing and Cyber Security Training Institute has also been established here. This institute will promote training and research related to subjects such as cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing, and other innovative technologies. While RBI already operates a major data center in Navi Mumbai, this new facility launched in Odisha can significantly contribute to strengthening the country's digital financial infrastructure. This is expected to improve the availability of essential digital systems and preparedness against cyber threats.