The SAARC Central Bank Governors realized for establishing SAARCFINANCE Database (SFDC) with a view to fulfilling the mission and vision of SAARCFINANCE at the 28th SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 24, 2014. The Database was launched at the SAARCFINANCE Governors’ Symposium held in Mumbai, India on May 26, 2016. The responsibility of the database creation was entrusted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The SFDB is one of the key initiatives of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Central Banks. The SFDB aims to build a repository of macroeconomic data relating to the SAARC countries, viz., Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It seeks to disseminate information, facilitate research on economic and financial issues, assist in formulation of public policies, and promote cooperation and coordination among SAARC Countries.

The SFDB is hosted on Reserve Bank of India's "Database on Indian Economy (DBIE)" portal which is accessible through its website (https://dbie.rbi.org.in). It can also be accessed through the URL https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=saarcHome.

In the SFDB, time series data are presented sector-wise and frequency-wise, both in national currencies and US dollars. The data can easily be downloaded for further processing and analysis. Presently, database covers more than 225 variables of annual, quarterly and monthly frequencies from the year 2001 onwards, on national income, prices, money and banking, financial markets, public finance, banking sector indicators, interest rates, external sector statistics and other socio-economic indicators. Detailed metadata, advance data release calendars, dashboards and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), are also available on this website. In order to continuously improve the Database, a feedback submission mechanism is also provided. Data for the SFDB is sourced through central banks of the SAARC member countries.

Consequently, a SAARCFINANCE Database Cell (SFDC) was established under Statistics Department of Bangladesh Bank on December 21, 2014. Broadly, the functions of SFDC are mentioned here.

1. Data shared with SAARCFINANCE Database (monthly/quarterly/yearly)
2. Macroeconomic indicators prepared for SAARCFINANCE
3. Uploaded datasets on SAARCFINANCE Website.

However, it can be mentioned that the SAARCFINANCE Central Database is maintained, audited and controlled by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).