The Reserve Bank of India’s new Data Centre and Cybersecurity Training Institute was inaugurated in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, placing the Odisha capital at the centre of India’s effort to build more secure and resilient digital banking infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the facility would support the country’s expanding financial technology systems as cyber threats become more complex.
Spread across 18.55 acres and built at a cost of Rs 170 crore, the RBI campus includes four state-of-the-art data centres. These facilities will host mission-critical payment and settlement systems along with other key functions of the central bank, according to details cited during the inauguration. The campus has been designed to meet the RBI’s growing computing requirements while providing a secure, scalable and resilient digital ecosystem.
Modi said the coming decade would require banking systems to become more efficient, secure and trustworthy. He described robust digital infrastructure as essential to protecting the country’s financial system and warned that modern conflicts could target economies through cyberattacks rather than only conventional military action.
“When India is becoming economically strong, it is equally essential for us to protect our banking system from cyber looters and cyber terrorists,” Modi said. The Prime Minister’s remarks placed the Bhubaneswar facility within a wider national push to protect payment systems, banking networks and digital financial services from disruption.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India’s objective was to build a financial system “that the world trusts and every Indian can rely upon”. She described the new Bhubaneswar campus as a significant step towards that goal. The facility’s four data centres are expected to support the RBI’s operational requirements and the digital systems that underpin payment and settlement functions.
The inauguration also formed part of the government’s broader technology and investment narrative for Odisha. Modi said the state was moving “from mines to microchips”, with investments expanding in semiconductors, electronics, data centres and advanced computing. He said these sectors could create new employment and investment opportunities for Odisha’s youth, while describing eastern India as an emerging growth engine.
The Prime Minister also linked the expansion of digital banking to financial inclusion initiatives, citing Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra loans, PM SVANidhi and PM Vishwakarma. He said these programmes had helped first-time entrepreneurs, street vendors, artisans and self-help groups access institutional credit. He further said that direct benefit transfers had enabled funds to reach beneficiaries directly, reducing leakages in welfare delivery.
For Bhubaneswar, the RBI campus adds a major financial technology and cybersecurity institution to the city’s growing technology ecosystem. Its immediate operational role will be tied to the central bank’s computing, payment and settlement requirements. The next phase of the facility’s contribution will depend on its deployment of these systems and the functioning of its cybersecurity training capacity, details of which were not specified in the report.
