Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Reserve Bank of India’s Rs 169-crore data centre at Info Valley-II, Jatani, in Odisha’s Khordha district October 25, 2026.
The data centre, located near Bhubaneswar, is designed to operate as a secondary backup to the RBI’s primary data centre at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.
Facility and purpose
- The campus spans 18.55 acres at Info Valley-II, near Jatani on the Kolkata–Chennai National Highway, on Bhubaneswar’s outskirts.
- Its estimated cost is reported as Rs 169 crore.
- It will function as the RBI’s secondary/backup data centre.
- The centre is designed to support data management, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and business continuity for core central-bank functions, including currency management, payment and settlement systems, and regulatory operations.
Why Jatani was chosen
Officials said the site was selected for geographical stability and strategic separation from seismically active zones and high-risk international border areas. This is meant to reduce exposure to natural disasters and geopolitical threats, an important consideration for infrastructure supporting payment systems and financial regulation.
The project’s foundation stone was laid by then RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das March 22, 2023.
PM’s programme
According to the tentative itinerary, PM Modi is expected to land at Biju Patnaik International Airport around 4:30 pm, travel by helicopter to the Khordha helipad, and then go by road to the facility. He is expected to spend about an hour at the inauguration and depart Odisha around 6:30 pm, making it roughly a two-hour visit.
Congress’s water concerns
Opposition Congress in Odisha October 23 alleged that the data centre could “require around 2 crore litres of water daily, mainly for cooling”. RBI and state government had not publicly confirmed the figure or the water source at the time of filing this report.
Odisha Congress also warned that if sourced from groundwater, this could deplete local aquifers, affect agriculture, and worsen water stress in Khordha district. The party also demanded disclosure of the project’s actual water requirement, source of supply, environmental impact assessment, likely local employment, and safeguards for farmers.
