RBI/2012-13/279

DBOD.CO.BP.BC No. 55/21.04.178/2012-13

November 05, 2012

The Chairman/ Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer

All Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) and Local Area Banks

Dear Sir / Madam,

As you may be aware, the Government of India has envisaged providing ”Broadband on Demand” by 2015 in the recently unveiled National Telecom Policy (NTP) - 2012 emphasizing the role of Internet as catalyst for socio-economic development of the country and also as an effective medium of various citizen centric services in today’s information economy. Since the current version of Internet Protocol (IPv4) has almost run out of addresses, the broadband revolution is sure to ride on next generation Internet Protocol (IPv6). The NTP - 2012 recognizes the futuristic role of IPv6 and aims to achieve substantial transition to IPv6 in the country.

2. Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India has undertaken the initiative of migration from IPv4 to IPv6.

3. Since migration to IPv6 is an eventuality that has to be accepted and managed proactively, government wants it to be done in a planned way rather than against time. They have expressed that the migration of all payment gateways, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, etc. including their websites should be completed preferably by December 2012. You may initiate necessary action by constituting a special team to complete the migration within the stipulated time.

4. In case you need any clarifications/assistance on IPv6 implementation kindly contact Shri R. M. Agarwal, DDG (NT), DoT (Mobile number 9868133440) who is heading the team which is providing relevant support to all stakeholders.

Yours faithfully,

(Deepak Singhal)

Chief General Manager-in-charge

 

IPv6 migration urged for banks and financial institutions to complete transition to next generation internet protocol The communication directs scheduled commercial and local area banks to plan and complete migration from IPv4 to IPv6 in line with the National Telecom Policy 2012, citing exhaustion of IPv4 addresses and the need to support next generation broadband. Banks, payment gateways and other financial entities are asked to constitute special teams to manage the transition within the government's preferred timeline and may contact a designated Department of Telecommunications technical officer for implementation support.