India to emerge as key spender in global security market

NEW DELHI: India is poised to emerge as a key international spender in the global security market, with an estimated spending of $9.7 billion by 2016.

"The total homeland security spending in the Indian market will amount to a total estimate of $9.7 billion by 2016," Frost and Sullivan research said in a press release issued by Asianet.

Contributing much to this spending is the airport security which accounts for $3.2 billion, it said.

With the mass transport systems acting as soft targets for criminal and terrorist activities, there is a demand of a high level infrastructure construction, which would possibly take spending even higher.

The recent Mumbai terror attacks call for formulation of more developed security measures to protect areas where there is a high level of civilian mobility.

"In light of the horrendous death toll of innocent civilians, the relevant security stakeholders are going to have become more pragmatic when it comes to developing a 'last line of defence' within sites such as hotels, religious places and various tourist destinations," senior consultant Frost & Sullivan, Frisco Buker said.

There is an increasing demand for development of tighter security measures due to huge development of small to medium airports and increase in baseline international airports.

The Indian Homeland Security market is expected to expand to counter future attacks from terrorist outfits or Naxal groups.

"The continuous threat of terrorism, the development of India's infrastructure and the eventual development of the nation's civil aviation capacity promise to expand overall security spending in India to over USD 9 billion by 2016", Buker said.