The Prime Minister inaugurated the Reserve Bank of India's new Data Centre and its Cybersecurity Training Institute near Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on 25 October 2026. The facilities stand at Info Valley-II in Jatni, on the city's outskirts. According to reports of the inauguration, the data centre will host the RBI's critical systems, including the RTGS and NEFT payment platforms, and the institute will train staff in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
The Prime Minister framed the occasion in two sentences that summarise the policy shift: the past decade was about taking banking to those who were left out, and the coming decade is about making banking more efficient and more reliable. He added that "wars are not fought with weapons alone" — a nation can be weakened by attacks on its economy, and its banking system must be protected from "cyber looters and cyber terrorists".
What the RBI actually runs
Most people think of the RBI as a regulator that sets interest rates. It is also the operator of the country's most important payment systems, which is why a data centre belongs to it.
| System | Operator | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| RTGS — Real Time Gross Settlement | RBI | Large-value transfers settled one by one, in real time; minimum ₹2 lakh; available 24×7 since December 2020 |
| NEFT — National Electronic Funds Transfer | RBI | Transfers settled in half-hourly batches; no minimum; available 24×7 since December 2019 |
| UPI and IMPS | NPCI | Instant retail payments; NPCI is a not-for-profit company set up under the initiative of the RBI and the Indian Banks' Association |
All of them are governed by the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, which makes the RBI the authority that licenses and oversees payment systems in India.
The distinction between gross and net settlement is a favourite examination point. In RTGS, each transaction is settled individually as it happens — "gross" — so the money is final immediately, which is why it suits large payments between banks. In NEFT, transactions are collected and settled together in batches, with banks' obligations netted against each other.
Why a central bank needs more than one data centre
A payment system that stops for an hour stops salaries, trade settlements and government transfers across the country. So systems of this importance are never run from a single site.
The standard architecture is a primary site and a disaster recovery (DR) site far enough apart that a flood, fire, power failure or attack at one cannot disable the other, with data copied continuously between them so that operations can switch over within minutes. Spreading critical infrastructure across regions — away from the financial capital — is a basic principle of business continuity. A new RBI data centre in eastern India adds to that resilience.
It also fits a wider pattern: Odisha is being promoted as a location for data centres and advanced computing, and the Prime Minister pointed to new investment prospects for the State's young people in those sectors.
Why cyber training is the other half
Hardware resilience protects against accidents and outages. Cyber resilience protects against people. Financial institutions face a steady stream of phishing, ransomware, fraud through compromised credentials, and attacks on the software supply chain. The weakest point is usually not the system but the skills of those who run and defend it, which is the gap a dedicated training institute is meant to close.
The institute adds to an existing set of RBI-linked bodies that work on technology:
- ReBIT — the Reserve Bank Information Technology company, a wholly owned subsidiary set up in 2016 to work on IT and cyber security for the RBI and the entities it regulates.
- IFTAS — Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services, another subsidiary, which runs shared banking network infrastructure.
- RBIH — the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub in Bengaluru, set up in 2022 to promote financial innovation.
At the policy level, the Financial Stability and Development Council has just taken note of a new Financial Sector Cyber Security Strategy — our explainer on the FSDC's 30th meeting covers it — and CERT-In remains the national agency for responding to cyber incidents.
The inclusion numbers the Prime Minister cited
The speech set the new facilities against a decade of financial inclusion. The figures, as he stated them:
- about 59-60 crore Jan Dhan accounts — the basis of direct benefit transfer, covered in our article on Jan Dhan at twelve;
- 13 crore first-time entrepreneurs through the Mudra Yojana;
- 9 crore people covered by the Atal Pension Yojana;
- accident insurance of ₹2 lakh for a premium of ₹20 a year under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, with claims of more than ₹25,000 crore paid out across the social-security schemes.
These are the government's figures. Their analytical point is simple: once crores of first-time users depend on digital banking, an outage or a breach harms not a few large clients but the poorest account-holders, who have the least ability to absorb the loss. Inclusion raises the stakes of reliability.
🔑 Revision block
- The event: RBI Data Centre and Cybersecurity Training Institute inaugurated by the PM at Info Valley-II, Jatni (near Bhubaneswar), 25 October 2026.
- Data centre: to host critical RBI systems including RTGS and NEFT. Institute: cybersecurity, AI and emerging technologies.
- PM's framing: last decade = taking banking to the excluded; next decade = making it efficient and reliable; protect banking from "cyber looters and cyber terrorists".
- RTGS: RBI-run, gross real-time settlement, minimum ₹2 lakh, 24×7 since Dec 2020. NEFT: RBI-run, batch settlement, no minimum, 24×7 since Dec 2019.
- UPI/IMPS: run by NPCI, not the RBI. Law: Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
- Resilience: primary + disaster recovery sites, geographically separated, for business continuity.
- RBI tech bodies: ReBIT (2016, IT and cyber security), IFTAS (shared network infrastructure), RBIH (Bengaluru, 2022, innovation).
- Inclusion figures (as stated): ~60 crore Jan Dhan accounts; 13 crore Mudra first-time entrepreneurs; 9 crore APY; PMSBY ₹20/year → ₹2 lakh cover.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system in India is operated by: (a) the National Payments Corporation of India (b) the Reserve Bank of India (c) the State Bank of India (d) SEBI
→ (b) RTGS and NEFT are RBI-operated; UPI and IMPS are run by NPCI.
Q2. The key difference between RTGS and NEFT is that: (a) RTGS settles each transaction individually in real time, while NEFT settles in batches (b) RTGS is only for cheques, NEFT only for cards (c) NEFT has a minimum transfer of ₹2 lakh, RTGS has none (d) RTGS works only on weekdays
→ (a) "Gross" settlement means each payment is settled individually and immediately; NEFT settles in batches.
Q3. Payment systems in India are regulated under the: (a) Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (b) Information Technology Act, 2000 (c) Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (d) Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, alone
→ (c) The 2007 Act makes the RBI the authority that licenses and oversees payment systems.
Q4. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is operated by: (a) the Reserve Bank of India (b) the Ministry of Finance (c) NITI Aayog (d) the National Payments Corporation of India
→ (d) NPCI, set up under the initiative of the RBI and the Indian Banks' Association, runs UPI and IMPS.
Q5. A "disaster recovery site" for a payment system is best described as: (a) a geographically separate facility that can take over operations if the primary site fails (b) a branch where customers file complaints (c) a training centre for bank staff (d) an insurance fund for failed banks
→ (a) Separating the primary and recovery sites keeps critical systems running through local disasters or attacks.
Q6. NEFT has been available round the clock on all days since: (a) April 2016 (b) December 2019 (c) December 2020 (d) March 2023
→ (b) NEFT became 24×7 in December 2019; RTGS followed in December 2020.
Q7. ReBIT, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, primarily works on: (a) printing currency notes (b) agricultural credit (c) information technology and cyber security (d) foreign exchange reserves management
→ (c) The Reserve Bank Information Technology company was set up in 2016 for IT and cyber security work.
Q8. The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub is located in: (a) Bengaluru (b) Mumbai (c) Hyderabad (d) Bhubaneswar
→ (a) RBIH was set up in Bengaluru in 2022 to promote innovation in financial services.
Q9. Under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, accident insurance cover of ₹2 lakh is available for an annual premium of: (a) ₹12 (b) ₹20 (c) ₹330 (d) ₹436
→ (b) The premium was revised to ₹20 a year; ₹436 is the PMJJBY life-cover premium.
Q10. The minimum amount that can be transferred through RTGS is: (a) There is no minimum (b) ₹50,000 (c) ₹1 lakh (d) ₹2 lakh
→ (d) RTGS is meant for large-value transfers; NEFT has no minimum.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Banking and payments are a staple of the CDS Economy section, and the questions are mostly about who runs what and how a system works.
The first form is the operator question: who operates RTGS, NEFT, UPI or IMPS. The RBI-versus-NPCI split is the single most useful fact to hold, and statements that the RBI runs UPI are the standard trap.
The second is the mechanism question: gross versus net settlement, real-time versus batch, minimum amounts. A "consider the following statements" item on RTGS and NEFT is easy to set and easy to get wrong without precise definitions.
The third is the law question: which Act governs payment systems. The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, is the answer, with the Banking Regulation Act and the IT Act as distractors.
A fourth, more topical, is the scheme-premium question on PMSBY, PMJJBY and the Atal Pension Yojana, where the premium and cover figures are easily confused.
For a written answer on digital finance, the point to make is that financial inclusion and financial security are now the same problem. Once hundreds of millions of first-time users depend on digital rails, the reliability and cyber defence of those rails become matters of public welfare, not just of banking operations.
Preparing for CDS/OTA? For banking topics, learn each system with its operator, its settlement method and its governing law — the questions are built from those three facts. Start with our CDS/OTA study material, follow the daily CDS current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Aditya Tiwari — Economy & current-affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.