Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday inaugurated the Reserve Bank of India’s Rs 169-crore data centre and Cybersecurity Training Institute in Bhubaneswar, officials said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, Odisha Governor Brajmohan Ram, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, and Deputy CMs Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were also present.
The RBI’s facility is spread across 18.55 acres at Info Valley-II in Jatni, and the foundation stone was laid by then RBI governor Shaktikanta Das March 22, 2023.
The data centre will host mission-critical payment and settlement systems, along with other flagship initiatives, the government said in a statement.
It will contribute to widening the reach, efficiency and reliability of digital financial services, and will form the secure digital foundation on which India’s increasingly technology-driven financial economy can grow, it said.
Similarly, the Cybersecurity Training Institute will boost capability building, providing a dedicated institutional platform for cybersecurity and enterprise-technology training, research, and sector-wide capability development, it said.
The site was chosen for its geographical stability, away from seismically active zones and high-risk international border areas, reducing exposure to natural disasters and geopolitical vulnerabilities, an official said.
Modi landed at Biju Patnaik International Airport here at 4.15 pm aboard a special Indian Air Force aircraft. From the airport, he took a helicopter to Khurda, and then proceeded by road to the RBI facility.
He is likely to spend an hour at the RBI’s data centre and return to the airport by road before departing around 6.30 pm, officials said.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements, deploying around 2,100 personnel for the PM’s visit, they said.
Traffic restrictions have also been imposed from 5.40 pm to 6.40 pm along the route connecting the RBI data centre to the airport.
Majhi, in a social media post, said the data centre will add to Odisha’s journey of development.
He said this was the PM’s ninth visit to Odisha after the formation of the BJP government in the state in 2024.
Majhi said the Jatni data centre will be the second of its kind after the one in Navi Mumbai.
The facilities have been designed to meet the bank’s computing requirements and provide a secure, resilient, scalable and future-ready computing ecosystem for the bank and the broader financial sector, officials said.
