Banking regulator the Reserve Bank of India has been operating a war room, a secret facility since March 19 with emaciated staff, has increased the deployed manpower to 150 now, as it continues to protect the nation’s financial system from the disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The facility, part of the RBI’s business contingency plan (BCP), was made operational within 24 hrs of the central bank taking a decision. The war-room was earlier being manned by just about 120 most critical staff from the apex bank, along with 60 key personnel from its 600-people strong workforce of its external vendor and around 70 facility staff.
As the lockdown has been extended, the RBI has now deputed an additional 30 staff recently, taking the total strength to 150, a central bank official told on Friday.
Taking into consideration the criticality of the situation, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das took the decision to set up a war-room on March 18. Since mid-March, just 10 percent of staff have been attending the central office that has the capacity of 2,000 people, according to RBI union sources.
Addressing the media on Friday, wherein the RBI reduced the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 percent, Governor Das profusely thanked the staffers manning the war-room.
“I would like to thank my colleagues who have been working tirelessly in our fight against the COVID-19. A special word of praise for our team of over 200 officers, staff and other service providers who are working 24×7 in isolation to keep the essential RBI services available to the nation,” Das said.
