Work towards a secure future

Kunwar Vikram Singh 

In the present times private security industry (PSI) has become an indispensable component of security and safety around the world. It safeguards not only the infrastructure of the nation, but also intellectual property and confidential information. 

The less-than-average police-to-people ratio in India is the reason behind the exponential growth of the PSI. The industry is already registering an annual growth of 22 per cent. As a matter of fact, the PSI is the largest sector to provide employment opportunities to people in India. It comes second only to agriculture.

The PSI employs around eight million employees, however, a major part of it still falls under the “unorganised sector.” Only 45 per cent of it is organised. The abysmal results are due to the slack implementation of the Private Security Agencies Regulation Act-2005. 

Changing contours of the profession 

The landscape of the PSI in India is changing every now and then. The industry has the potential to generate thousands of jobs to urban and rural population, but its manpower falls short by 30 per cent.

Considering current policy and regulatory developments in the country, the industry is bound to grow by leaps and bounds. Investment of foreign capital in India and manufacturing of Indian goods will increase demand for private security personnel. 

A few work profiles are:

Manned guarding: It has the highest employment rate and revenue share in the whole PSI. All major sectors like retail, commercial, IT, manufacturing… demand skilled and competent security guards. 39 per cent of the demand for residential manned guarding is generated by metros like Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. 

As of now, nearly 8.9 million  private security guards work at over 22,000 private security agencies in India that are managed by ex-servicemen and retired officers.

Cash management security services: These form the organised part of the PSI, with seven-eight market players holding around 70-80 per cent of the share. From cash replenishment services for bank ATMs to cash pick up and drop for large corporates and retail outlets, cash management services are widely opted by all. 

Licensing of arms, liability and high-insurance costs make this sector a high-risk and low-return business. However,  cash-management security services, including both manned guarding and electronic security, enjoy a significant increase in its demand and growth as new ATMs are installed and use of debit cards is encouraged across the nation.

Event security management: Event security service providers are mushrooming across the country. The agencies employ and train the semi-skilled or unskilled youth for the job of security guards and event security management. These companies ensure that the events are held in a safe and secure environment. The security men control the crowd and give protection to VIPs. Applicants can apply for jobs like bodyguards, security event managers, and security information system analysts.

There are more than 200 training centres imparting security training as per the national occupation standards approved by the Government of India. Centres of security excellence are also being set up to provide advance training in security management.

Explore the options

• There are many career opportunities that the PSI offers to the youth. Interested candidates can get technical-knowledge expertise as well as professional experience.
• The industry generates employment as it requires people on the job. Manpower constitutes 75 per cent of the industry, while cash-services management and electronic security has a 20-25 per cent share. 
• The private security agencies provide skilled technical services, including tracking X-Ray machines, dog squads, bomb and explosive detection, CCTV surveillance, etc. Therefore, the role of security guards is becoming technical with each passing day.

Tech part of safety 

• The corporate sector demands security guards with an advanced skill set and fire-fighting capabilities. Among these, the most important requirement is the in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience of working with technology. As already mentioned, technology will revolutionise the private security industry by bringing in the automation techniques and sharp tech-enabled surveillance. Many security companies have started offering a wide range of cloud-based and remote security solutions. The agencies are, thus, hiring information security managers and executives who protect the servers, computers, networks, etc. from cyber attacks.
• As technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, and Big Data make a trailblazing entry into the private security industry, there is going to be a wave of jobs not only for well-trained security guards, but also for the skilled information security analysts in the sector to keep up with the future security needs.

—The writer is chairman, CAPSI