Indian security mkt to touch $1.69 bn by 2019: Gartner

Security spending on hardware, software and services in India is on track to touch USD 1.69 billion mark by 2019, research firm Gartner said today.
The security market in the country is expected to grow 8.3 per cent to reach USD 1.11 billion this year, from USD 1.02 billion in 2014 and will further grow to USD 1.69 billion by 2019, Gartner said in a statement.
"Security services (including consulting, implementation, support and managed security services) revenue accounted for 57 per cent of this total revenue in 2014, and this proportion will increase to 60 per cent by 2019," Gartner Principal Research Analyst Sid Deshpande said.

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, he added.
"Security services are typically categorised as either implementation, consulting or security outsourcing services, and many providers are beginning to offer all three categories to address customer requirements," he said.
Consumer security software is expected to grow to USD 92 million, while identity access management and infrastructure protection solutions are expected to touch USD 93 million and USD 296 million by 2019, Gartner said.

Network security equipment and security services are poised to touch USD 198 million and USD 1.01 billion by the same time period, it added.

Gartner said a slow transition is underway among enterprise security buyers in India as they realise that while preventive approaches to information security are important, they are not sufficient in themselves.
They also need to focus on continuous monitoring and response as a central component of their security strategy, it added.
"In 2015, we are beginning to see larger, more mature organisations in India focus on risk-based approaches to security spending, while smaller and mid-market organisations continue to ramp up their efforts to incrementally improve their security posture," Deshpande said.
Gartner said the key security initiatives for a majority of organisations in 2015 include security monitoring, identity governance and administration, mobile and cloud security governance, advanced threat defense, application security, security policy and program development, along with governance, risk and compliance (GRC).

"In the context of the Digital India initiative, the importance of digital risk management cannot be understated," Deshpande said.
In the era of digital business, security and risk management has to be front and centre as a business imperative and this applies to private sector (banking, insurance, telecom providers, retail, manufacturing) as well as government/public sector (smart cities, citizen services, state-owned enterprises), he added.