Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi on Thursday inaugurated the White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) – Distribution Demonstration Network, at the Regional Reference Standards Laboratory (RRSL) in Bengaluru.

Mr. Joshi said that this initiative, implemented under the ambitious vision of ‘One Nation, One Time,’ is a historic step toward establishing a uniform, highly precise and secure time standard across India.

He said that this new system upholds the sovereignty of the nation’s digital infrastructure by eliminating India’s reliance on foreign time sources like GPS.

By reducing dependence on external time references, critical sectors will gain maximum protection against risks such as cyberattacks and data manipulation. This high-precision time synchronisation technology will be revolutionary in maintaining the stability of high-frequency financial markets, stock exchanges, digital banking payments, telecommunications networks, and national power grids.

The Legal Metrology Division of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is the nodal agency for this project, which has been realised through the collaboration of key technical institutions including the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), ISRO, BSNL, and SEBI.

The Minister said that indigenous system, which operates in compliance with the global Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) protocols, will strengthen India’s internal security while maintaining international quality standards.