TheInterviewTimes.com | February 22, 2026 | 15:45 PM IST | New Delhi
RBI Bhubaneswar Data Centre: RBI inaugurates high-security data centre in Bhubaneswar to protect financial systems from cross-border threats and seismic risks. Explore strategic location, Tier IV design, and broader RBI initiatives for resilient infrastructure.
The Reserve Bank of India has operationalized a high-security data centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to fortify critical financial operations against diverse threats. This greenfield facility spans 18.55 acres at Info Valley-II in Khordha and supports core functions like currency management, payment settlements, and regulatory data processing. Officials highlight its Tier IV certification, ensuring top-tier reliability with built-in fault tolerance and redundancy.
Strategic Location Choices
Bhubaneswar’s position distances the site from India’s western and northern borders, minimizing risks from missile or drone incursions. The area avoids high seismic zones unlike Himalayan regions, enhancing resilience to natural disasters. Odisha’s abundant land, water, and power resources further suit data centre needs, while its lack of major undersea cables reduces cyber attack concentration risks compared to Mumbai or Chennai.
A 2025 incident underscored urgency when a major bank shifted operations from Jaipur to Mumbai amid India-Pakistan border tensions involving drones.
Project Timeline and Key Partners
Former RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das laid the foundation stone in March 2023. Indian Financial Technologies and Allied Services, an RBI subsidiary, awarded a Rs 169 crore contract to Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd for construction, with Engineers India Limited handling project management. The complex covers 30,000 sqm built-up area and integrates cybersecurity training facilities.
Part of National Financial Resilience Drive
This marks RBI’s second data centre after the primary one in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. Similar efforts include SEBI and State Bank of India developing their own facilities to control mission-critical infrastructure. RBI also pilots a cloud service with Mumbai and Hyderabad data centres for local storage to financial firms, funded initially from its Rs 22,974 crore asset fund.
Experts view this as treating financial data as national infrastructure, prioritizing sovereignty amid rising digital transactions like UPI’s 172 billion in 2024.
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