Centre launches White Rabbit tech network to secure Indian Standard Time

The Centre on Saturday said it has commissioned a demonstration network that uses "White Rabbit" precision timing technology to distribute a secure, tamper-resistant national time signal, as the country pushes to reduce reliance on foreign timing sources for critical infrastructure.

Union food and consumer affairs Pralhad Joshi last week launched the network at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL) in Bengaluru, a joint project of the Department of Consumer Affairs, the government-run CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The system disseminates Indian Standard Time -- traceable to the national time-keeping authority UTC (NPLI) -- using Precision Time Protocol-based White Rabbit technology, which the ministry said in a statement, offers highly accurate synchronisation for sectors, including banking, telecommunications, power grids, transportation, and digital governance.

 

The ministry, working with CSIR-NPL, ISRO, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and state-run telecoms operator BSNL, had also completed a verification test of secure time transmission between the Bengaluru laboratory and NSE's Chennai facility.

Earlier on July 16, Joshi visited Isro's Bengaluru headquarters to review progress on the broader Indian Standard Time Dissemination Project, which falls under the government's "One Nation, One Time" initiative.

Joshi had said a trusted, indigenous national time source was becoming a critical piece of digital infrastructure, one that would bolster consumer protection, support fair trade, strengthen cyber resilience and improve the reliability of financial markets, telecommunications and power systems.

He said the project reflected the government's push for technological self-reliance under its "Viksit Bharat" development vision.

Joshi said the project would help reduce India's dependence on foreign timing sources and position the country among leaders in precision time dissemination.

Nidhi Khare, secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, said the initiative, combined with ongoing reforms to legal metrology rules, would strengthen consumer confidence, ease business operations and support India's digital transformation.