India's cybersecurity services, product industry revenue at $9.85 billion

India's cybersecurity services and product industry logged a revenue of USD 9.85 billion in 2021 and grew at a compound annual growth rate of about 40 per cent in the last two years, a report by Data Security Council of India (DSCI) said.

The report titled 'India Cybersecurity Industry Report Services & Product Growth Story' said the key drivers of the Indian cybersecurity industry are adoption of cloud-first strategy; business-led innovation (remote working conditions); growing threat landscape and awareness around threats; and global and domestic regulations around compliance and data privacy.

North America and Europe continue to be the leading geographies for services and products revenue with combined 58 per cent revenue contribution, it added.

Asia and Middle East and Africa (MEA) are the fastest growing geographies, it said.

The report said the Indian cybersecurity services industry grew from USD 4.3 billion in 2019 to about USD 8.5 billion in 2021. The Indian cybersecurity products grew from USD 740 million in 2019 to reach USD 1.37 billion this year, it added.

The report said the industry is moving towards a platform-based approach to offer holistic solutions and simplify security integration and deployment.

There is a huge demand for cybersecurity talent with services companies having a cybersecurity workforce of 2.18 lakh and product companies having about 27,000 workforce in 2021.

The Indian cybersecurity industry is constantly expanding its global footprint with a presence in the US, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Singapore, and the UAE, it said.

India's cybersecurity industry was at the forefront supporting Government and all critical sectors to manage the heightened cyber security risk in the last two years through the pandemic. The report showcases the capabilities of the Indian cybersecurity services and startups and the continuous innovation in products and services to serve customers in India and globally," Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Secretary Ajay Sawhney said.

He added that MeitY is committed to partnering with DSCI to scale up innovation in emerging areas like 5G, Hardware, IoT Security, and through Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) and Future Skills Programmes to meet the talent demand of the industry.

"Every crisis has a silver lining and for the pandemic, it has been the accelerated adoption of digital solutions across enterprises and government. Decade's worth of digital transformation has taken place in the last two years and India's technology industry has emerged as the preferred digital solutions partner with cybersecurity as a key growth vertical," Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh said.

Cybersecurity is now a boardroom agenda and offers tremendous opportunities for India's tech industry to build innovative solutions and services, she added.

Rama Vedashree, CEO of DSCI, said the Indian cybersecurity product and services industry have been demonstrating tremendous growth while fostering a partnership mindset.

The collaboration between ecosystem stakeholders such as academia, government, services majors, startups is creating a conducive ecosystem, she added.

"DSCI has been focused on growing the startup ecosystem by facilitating incubation and acceleration programs, funding opportunities, new products through use cases, a robust talent pool, and enabling startups to expand their global footprint. India is indeed becoming a trusted and natural partner of choice for providing cybersecurity services and products globally, she noted.