Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to launch cloud services in 2025 to challenge global firm dominance

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is set to launch a pilot programme in 2025, offering affordable local cloud data storage to financial institutions. This initiative will see the RBI collaborate with domestic IT firms, positioning it against major international cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud. The cloud services market in India, valued at US$ 8.3 billion (~Rs. 68,890 crore) in 2023, is projected to grow to US$ 24.2 billion (~Rs. 2,00,860 crore) by 2028. However, it remains largely dominated by foreign players. The RBI’s cloud platform will primarily cater to smaller banks and financial firms, which often find existing cloud solutions too expensive.

The RBI's initiative follows its broader push for data localisation in the financial services sector. The project will be initially funded by the central bank's asset development fund of US$ 2.72 billion (Rs. 22,974 crore). The cloud service will be developed in partnership with private-sector technology firms, with EY appointed as an advisor. Local IT companies with prior cloud-related experience are invited to bid for the project, which will involve setting up data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The pilot programme will be scaled up in phases over the coming years, with the RBI later seeking financial firms to hold equity in the project.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.