Indian digital security market to grow at 8.3% to $1.1 bn in 2015, says Gartner

Digital security spending in India is expected to grow at 8.3 per cent this year to reach $1.11 billion (Rs 7,373.66 crore) as both large and small business are planning to outsource security solutions than ever, said technology research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.

"The strong growth in the security services market will be primarily because customers need external services to transform their security posture in the digital business era," said Sid Deshpande, principal research analyst at Gartner at its Security & Risk Management Summit today.

Though the spending would be spread across hardware, software and services sectors such as consulting and supporting security solutions, expenditure in security services would be much higher, it said.

"Security services revenue accounted for 57 percent of this total revenue in 2014 ( $1.02 billion) and this proportion will increase to 60 percent by 2019," added Deshpande.

Security services for an enterprise includes security monitoring, identity governance and administration, mobile and cloud security governance, advanced threat defense, application security, security policy and program development. Expenditure in these services could go up to $1.23 billion in 2016, according to an assessment by the firm.

Apart from buying preventive security solutions, businesses are realising the need for continuous security support throughout the year and hence, the services market would witness sharp growth, it observed.

Digital security would also be needed for government and citizen-centric services in future and not just for business and enterprises. As the Union government has embarked upon Digital India initiative to provide services through digital platforms, the need to add security feature has also become imperative, the Gartner analyst said.

"In the era of digital business, security and risk management has to be front and center as a business imperative - this applies to the private sector (banking, insurance, telecom providers, retail, manufacturing), as well as government or public sector (smart cities, citizen services, state owned enterprises)," said Deshpande.