How RBI set up war-room in just one day amid coronavirus outbreak

The Reserve Bank is virtually being run from a war-room at a city facility manned by just around 90 critical staff as the nation’s monetary authority works to insulate the financial system from disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The facility, operational from March 19 as part of theBusiness Contingency Plan (BCP), was up and running in 24 hours of the centralbank taking a decision to this effect, according to an official.

   

The war-room is in fact manned by 90 most critical stafffrom the Reserve Bank, 60 key personnel from its 600-people strong workforcefrom its external vendors and around 70 facility staff.

The operation is so controlled for the sake of security andhealth of the personnel as also of the system that the BCP manual allows onlyhalf of the 90 staff to be present at any given time and the rest are onstandby.

“This is the first of its kind BCP implementation byany central bank in the world and is also the first in our history because evenduring the World War II we did not have any such facility,” the officialfrom the Reserve Bank told PTI.

The most critical functions that the war-room handles aredebt management, reserve management and monetary operations.

Under the BCP, other data centres of the RBI run criticalsystems like the SFMS (Structured Financial Messaging System), RTGS (Real TimeGross Settlement) and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer).

There is also e-Kuber that includes services for the centraland state governments’ transactions, and interbank transactions, among others.

“This is a model being attempted first time ever in ourfinancial system and perhaps anywhere in the world. The normal BCP is forsoftware hardware problems, fire, or other natural calamities and no one hassuch a plan as the RBI has put in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“What is also unique is that no national institutionsor central banks anywhere in the world has a BCP for pandemics where the peoplealso maintain social distancing in accordance with established protocols. Thisincludes donning hazmat suits as well,” the official said.

On a normal day, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), whichhandles billions of transactions, is served by around 14,000 employees spreadacross its 31 regional offices and the central office here. And the mostcritical operations mentioned above are handled by around 1,500 of them.

For more than a week now, only around 10 per cent of thestaff are coming to the central office which houses around 2,000 people,according to RBI union sources.

More than two lakh people have tested positive for thecoronavirus worldwide and the number of such cases are on the rise in thecountry, which has reported at least six deaths due to the virus infection.

Of the 14,000 staff, the three most critical functions movedto the war-room — debt management, reserve management and monetary operations— are handled by around 1,500 people on a normal day.

According to the official, the war-room is now being handledby around 90 of them. Besides, there are around 60 people from external vendorsand 70 facility staff.

Normally, RBI’s IT infrastructure is supported by around 600external staff.

Explaining how they operationalised the war-room, the official said first they hired the facility exclusively to accommodate around 150 RBI personnel and around 60 service providers who are supported by the around 70 facility staff comprising maintenance, security, kitchen, front desk, and the administration. All these people are isolated within the facility on a continuous basis and cannot move out except for extreme contingencies. All supplies to the facility are monitored and are provided by dedicated transport staff to maintain hygiene and sanitation standards fit for pandemic conditions, as per the official.  PTI

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