Security spending (hardware, software and services) in India is on pace to reach $1.11 billion in 2015, up 8.3 percent from $1.02 billion in 2014, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner analysts provided the latest trends for the security market at the inaugural Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit.

“Security spending will continue to grow in 2016 when revenue is projected to reach $1.23 billion. Security services (that includes consulting, implementation, support and managed security services) revenue accounted for 57 percent of this total revenue in 2014, and this proportion will increase to 60 percent by 2019,” said Sid Deshpande, principal research analyst at Gartner. “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. Security services are typically categorized as implementation, consulting or security outsourcing services, and many providers are beginning to offer all three categories to address customer requirements.”

“In 2015, we are beginning to see larger, more mature organizations in India focused on risk-based approaches to security spending, while smaller and midmarket organizations continue to ramp up their efforts to incrementally improve their security posture,” said Mr. Deshpande.

A slow transition is underway among enterprise security buyers in India. The realization is dawning on organizations, 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.

Key security initiatives for a majority of organizations 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).

“Risk and security leaders' ability to steer their organizations through the intersection of digital business and increasing IT risk and cyber security threats will create resilience, differentiate their organizations, define their legacies and shape the ways that future enterprises apply technology,” said Mr. Deshpande. “In the context of the Digital India initiative, the importance of digital risk management cannot be understated. 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/public sector (smart cities, citizen services, state owned enterprises).”