Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Odisha is poised to script a new future, highlighting the state’s growing role in India’s technology-driven growth story.Inaugurating Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Data Centre and Cybersecurity Training Institute in the city, Modi pointed out that the state was evolving “from mines to microchips”, with investments expanding in semiconductors, electronics, data centres and advanced computing.Modi said eastern India is becoming a key growth engine of a developed India and that Odisha has gained fresh momentum under BJP’s “double engine” govt.“You will see. Odisha is going to write a new future from mines to microchips,” the PM said, adding that new opportunities are opening up in data centres, advanced computing and technology-driven sectors. These developments, he said, would create fresh employment and investment prospects for the state’s youth.Modi, meanwhile, blamed Congress for allowing politically connected borrowers to secure loans worth thousands of crores prior to 2014, and pushing banks to deal with non-performing assets (NPAs).“There was an era of phone banking when some special people in Delhi and those connected to them received loans worth thousands of crores through a phone call, while poor and middle-class families needed guarantees even to open bank accounts,” PM said.Modi said the country’s financial system had suffered because of indiscriminate lending to a select group of influential borrowers and the resulting bad loans pushing banks into a deep NPA crisis.Contrasting the previous system with current govt’s emphasis on digital banking, the PM said his govt has brought millions into the formal banking network.Modi cited initiatives such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra loans, PM SVANidhi and PM Vishwakarma as examples of efforts that expanded financial inclusion and enabled first-time entrepreneurs, street vendors, artisans and self-help groups to access institutional credit. Referring to direct benefit transfer mechanisms, he said funds now reach beneficiaries directly, eliminating leakages that were once common in welfare delivery.Describing the RBI data centre as a critical component of India’s future banking architecture, Modi said the coming decade would focus on making banking more efficient, secure and trustworthy. He stressed the need for robust digital infrastructure to safeguard the financial system against evolving cyber threats.Warning that modern conflicts are no longer fought only with conventional weapons, Modi said countries could be weakened by attacks on their economies. “When India is becoming economically strong, it is equally essential for us to protect our banking system from cyber looters and cyber terrorists,” the PM said.Speaking on the occasion, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India aspires to build a financial system “that the world trusts and every Indian can rely upon”. She described the new Bhubaneswar campus as a significant step towards that goal.Spread over 18.55 acres and built at a cost of Rs 170 crore, the RBI data centre has been designed to meet RBI’s growing computing requirements while providing a secure, scalable and resilient digital ecosystem. The campus houses four state-of-the-art data centres that will host mission-critical payment and settlement systems and other key RBI functions.