RBI builds secured data centre away from potential threats, seismic risk

The Reserve Bank of India has built a high-security data centre in Odisha, strategically located well away from potential cross-border threat zones and high seismic-risk regions, as part of efforts to safeguard critical financial infrastructure and strengthen continuity of core systems.

The greenfield facility in Bhubaneswar is designed to house core computing systems supporting the central bank's currency management, payment and settlement operations, and regulatory data functions, analysts and officials said.

"When RBI began work on its 18.55-acre campus at Info Valley-II, Khordha in 2023, few questioned the location. Beyond logistical and operational considerations, strategic factors are likely to have weighed on decision-makers," an analyst tracking the sector said.

The Odisha site, he added, lies well away from India's western and northern borders, reducing exposure to potential cross-border missile or drone threats. It also falls outside the country's highest seismic risk zones, lowering vulnerability to major earthquake activity - factors that "strengthen the safety and continuity framework for infrastructure that underpins critical financial systems," he said.

This is RBI's second data centre; the Primary Data Centre is located in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

Another analyst noted that unlike Mumbai and Chennai - which host a large share of India's data centres - Odisha is not a landing point for major subsea communication cables. By situating the facility away from these hubs and dense digital traffic corridors, the RBI may be seeking infrastructure that is more insulated from concentrated cyber risks and network vulnerabilities, he added.

The central bank's site strategy appeared to gain resonance 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, which saw the use of drones along the border.

An email sent to the RBI for comments remained unanswered.

World over, central banks and top financial institutions are increasingly building and operating their own secured data centres, prioritising data safety, operational control and systemic resilience over reliance on public infrastructure, analysts say.

Industry officials said the primary driver is safety of financial data - viewed as critical national infrastructure - alongside the need to guard against cyberattacks, vendor lock-in and operational disruptions. For central banks in particular, direct control over infrastructure allows stricter enforcement of security protocols, redundancy planning and regulatory compliance.

With digital transactions and real-time payment systems expanding rapidly, authorities are treating secure data infrastructure not merely as an IT asset but as a cornerstone of financial stability.

In India, RBI is creating a secure, sovereign platform for banks and payment systems much like the US Federal Reserve Bank operating highly secured facilities such as the East Rutherford Operations Center, which houses key payment and settlement infrastructure. The site was built with layered physical and cyber safeguards to ensure uninterrupted functioning of core financial systems and a similar architecture is being followed by RBI.

The Odisha facility has been designed and built to ensure a high level of redundancy, resilience and system availability, incorporating in-built fault tolerance, according to RBI. It has achieved Tier IV certification for its design, underscoring its compliance with the highest standards of reliability and performance.

Other than the RBI, institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the State Bank of India have built or are building their own data centres, officials said.

Analysts noted that data centres require land, water and power - all available in abundance in Odisha - and that the location offers strategic depth from potential cross-border threats while avoiding concentration of critical infrastructure in high-risk corridors. From a geological standpoint, large parts of Odisha lie in lower seismic risk zones compared with the Himalayan belt, reducing vulnerability to high-intensity earthquakes.

"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, the RBI is also launching a pilot cloud facility with data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad to provide local cloud storage to financial firms.