Security equipment marketing capitalises on insecurities

New Delhi: One man''s food is another''s poison, goes the old adage. It rarely rings truer than that for manufacturers of security devices, who have made security concerns a profitable business using equipment such as CCTV, access control devices, scanner, movement sensors and intruder alarms.

According to industry sources, traditional means such as security guards have proven to be ineffective. The "Gorkha" is passé, with spends on the security equipment sector estimated at an annual Rs2000 crore, and is reportedly growing at 30 per cent a year.

The business is largely segmented into three categories: traditional equipment comprising locks, steel fabricated doors, etc., followed by premise security equipment such as closed circuit television (CCTV), numerically locked doors fitted with cameras, movement sensor equipments, etc., and the hi-end electronic equipments, which lists sensors of every kind, restricted access controls and scanners.

Through the primary demand driver for this business are commercial establishments, a number of varied establishments are also re-evaluating their security needs and methods.

Customers now feel the need for complete, networked security solutions, unlike pervious deployment of equipment.

Of late, some interest has been shown in private adoption as well, with installations of similar solutions in farmhouses, and upmarket residential blocks offering these facilities as standard.

What is clear is that, like the West, India too is moving towards an electronically guarded society.