DBT Bureau
Bengaluru, 19 November 2024
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to start a cloud services platform by 2025 in its bid to provide more affordable cloud storage options for Indian financial services institutions, a report by Reuters said.
According to the report, the RBI’s cloud platform will collaborate with local IT companies, and will have an aim to reduce dependency on established cloud hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
The Indian central bank is all set to start the pilot project soon in this regard and will gradually expand the scope of operations, taking into the requirements of smaller banking and financial services firms.
Notably, small financial services players are finding the current cloud services provided by global giants pretty expensive. Moreover, data localisation needs of the Indian government will be fulfilled under this initiative.
In December 2022, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the intention of the central bank to establish a public cloud tailored for the financial sector.
Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services, RBI’s research division, is spearheading the initial phase of the cloud project, the report said. Consulting firm EY has been appointed as an advisor, and the central bank’s asset development fund, valued at Rs 229.74 billion ($2.72 billion), will finance the initial stages, the report added.