RBI sets up high-security data hub in Odisha to protect core operations

Seeking to safeguard critical financial infrastructure and ensure uninterrupted functioning of key systems, the Reserve Bank of India has set up a high-security data centre in Odisha, strategically located away from potential cross-border threat zones and high seismic-risk regions.The greenfield facility in Bhubaneswar is designed to host core computing systems that support the central bank’s currency management, payment and settlement operations, and regulatory data functions, analysts and officials said, PTI reported.The RBI’s decision reflects a broader push by global central banks to secure sensitive financial infrastructure under direct institutional control, with analysts noting that safety, resilience and operational continuity are increasingly driving such investments.

The report was released by PTI.The facility has come up on an 18.55-acre campus at Info Valley-II in Khordha, where construction began in 2023. Analysts tracking the sector said strategic considerations likely influenced the choice of location beyond operational logistics.The Odisha site lies well away from India’s western and northern borders, reducing exposure to potential missile or drone threats, and is outside the country’s highest seismic risk zones.

These factors, an analyst said, “strengthen the safety and continuity framework for infrastructure that underpins critical financial systems”.This is RBI’s second data centre after its Primary Data Centre in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.Another analyst noted that Odisha is not a landing point for major subsea communication cables unlike Mumbai or Chennai, which host a significant share of India’s data infrastructure.

Locating the facility away from dense digital traffic corridors may help insulate it from concentrated cyber risks and network vulnerabilities, the analyst added.The strategy gained relevance last year when a leading commercial bank reportedly shifted its data centre operations overnight from Jaipur to Mumbai amid heightened tensions during the India-Pakistan conflict involving drone activity near border regions.An email sent to RBI seeking comments remained unanswered.Globally, central banks and major financial institutions are increasingly building dedicated secured data centres to prioritise data protection, operational control and systemic resilience rather than relying on shared public infrastructure, analysts said.Industry officials said safeguarding financial data — now viewed as critical national infrastructure — alongside protection from cyberattacks, vendor lock-in and operational disruptions has become a key driver behind such investments.

Direct ownership enables stricter security enforcement, redundancy planning and regulatory compliance.With rapid growth in digital transactions and real-time payment systems, secure data infrastructure is being treated as a cornerstone of financial stability rather than merely an IT asset.In India, RBI is developing a sovereign digital backbone for banks and payment systems, similar to the US Federal Reserve Bank’s secured facilities such as the East Rutherford Operations Center, which houses key payment and settlement infrastructure with layered physical and cyber safeguards.According to RBI, the Odisha facility has been designed with high redundancy, resilience and system availability, incorporating in-built fault tolerance. It has achieved Tier IV certification for design, indicating compliance with the highest standards of reliability and performance.Apart from RBI, institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India and State Bank of India have also built or are developing their own data centres, officials said.Analysts added that Odisha offers abundant land, water and power resources while providing strategic depth from potential cross-border threats and avoiding concentration of critical infrastructure in high-risk corridors. Large parts of the state also lie in relatively lower seismic-risk zones compared with the Himalayan belt.“With financial data now treated as critical national infrastructure, the RBI's move signals a broader policy thrust: retain tight institutional control over mission-critical systems, minimise exposure to external threats, and ensure uninterrupted functioning of the country's financial backbone under extreme scenarios,” another analyst said.As of 2025, RBI is also launching a pilot cloud facility with data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad to provide local cloud storage services to financial firms.