The private security industry in India has been experiencing significant growth and it now holds the distinction of being the largest security industry in the world
Life and liberty are very fundamental to human life. This position has been reiterated in our Constitution too (Article 21), which serves as a cornerstone for courts while adjudicating cases. The sovereign function of the state includes ensuring the life and liberty of people. To achieve this objective, governments create instrumentalities, including police, enforcement agencies, defence forces, etc. With the passage of time, the pattern has been changing in this area. Further, whenever there is a gap in the system, some alternatives emerge and fill up the gap. With the opening of economies, the world over, the participation of forces other than the state started taking shape and getting consolidated. The emergence of the private security industry is a similar phenomenon that started a few decades ago but has become visible and noticeable as well as gearing up for a much bigger role as a public-private partnership (PPP) in the arena of the internal security of the country.
Like in other parts of the world, the private security industry in India has come of age and is growing rapidly. It is the largest security industry in the world as of today. It is the highest employment-generating sector and has left behind the much-talked-about agriculture sector. It is also the top contributor to the government’s coffers as a corporate tax provider. With a mammoth 10 million work force through over 15,000 companies and firms, the sector has been growing at an annual compound rate (CAGR) of around 20 per cent for many years and has a turnover of about Rs 3 lakh crore.
The presence of the private security industry is now visible to the common people through its ubiquitous presence in residential, commercial, industrial, and government establishments. With improved training standards, private security guards and supervisors or managers are going to be important players alongside the public police in the years to come. As it is, they are five times the size of the available police force in the country. Recently, they have been inducted into the airport security system, handling non-core areas and, in the future, they can be entrusted with some of the core functions of the police too after proper upskilling, as is the position in the developed world. It is a welcome step that provides a win-win position for the government as well as the private security industry, which ensures better accountability, trustworthiness, and efficiency for a variety of reasons.
The growth of the security industry can be attributed to several factors, including a shortage of police personnel, an increase in business establishments due to a growing economy, an increase in residential and official complexes from urban migration and infrastructure development, heightened security requirements by citizens and changing patterns of crime in modern times.
The evolution of personal security on a global scale includes the integration of AI technology in surveillance tools, protective equipment and resources for security personnel. This modernisationenables security devices to become more intelligent and powerful through connected devices in the IoT world. Enhanced perception capabilities, such as radar, temperature measuring, humidity sensing, and gas leak detection, are now integrated into security systems. These devices can perform a variety of tasks that previously required multiple devices.
Biometrics and the zero-touch approach have been embraced by security companies, and cybersecurity has become a significant challenge due to the increasing number of security devices connecting over the Internet. The Zero Trust initiative, which aims to prevent data breaches by eliminating trust from an organization’s network architecture, has been widely accepted in the IT industry and is gradually being adopted in the physical security realm. This strategic initiative is deeply rooted in the philosophy of “never trust, always verify.”
Even though all the aspects mentioned may be interrelated regarding the outcome they provide, there is another common link among them. All of these are practiced by the top personal security companies worldwide and need a growing uptake in India too. The inclusion of these trends has become a must for Indian-based companies to uphold international standards. To remain relevant against the top personal security companies across the globe, Indian companies will have to spend time and resources on training their personnel and having them become more tech-savvy so that when the companies can onboard new technological resources, the personal security personnel will be able to utilise these tools daily.
CAPSI (Central Association of Private Security Industry), the apex body for the private security industry, is a non-profit organization registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013. It collaborates closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, on policy matters affecting the industry. CAPSI has an MOU with Rashtriya Raksha University under the MHA to work on various aspects of the private security industry.
To ensure service quality, CAPSI works with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to finalise the standards required for the employability of workers in the sector. CAPSI’s auditing wing conducts audits on private security companies and issues star ratings (up to 7 stars) based on the results. The Central government has mandated that only CAPSI-certified private security agencies are eligible to provide services to government ministries, departments, etc.
CAPSI has been entrusted by MHA to prepare a proposal for the induction of retrenched personnel from defense forces into the private security industry at appropriate levels. Additionally, MHA has asked CAPSI to prepare a roadmap for the industry’s growth over the next 10 years.
CAPSI is passing through very important moments in the history of the internal security of the country. Recently, it has prepared itself to launch a nation-wide movement known as National Citizens Security Culture as a non-profit welfare activity in the interest of the security of the country. This would be a 2–3-year project with self-sustainability as an objective. Various activities and programmes are being worked out in this regard.
By: Bhagwan Shankar, IAS (Retd), Advisor, CAPSI, New Delhi