D. Murali and Kumar Shankar Roy

Chennai: Next time you walk into a corporate office, spare a few moments to observe the guard who mans the entrance. He might not be physically intimidating but he knows his job well. He is trained to be alert in situations when mere mortals such as us will panic. Mind you, acclaimed investor Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and leading private equity players like ICICI Venture and Indivision have already assessed these professionals. So in the days of stock markets doom, if you are searching for the next big sector, your start could, well, finish here. We are talking about the security industry.

While politicians and administrators grapple with the increase in terrorism activities and heightened local crime levels, the security industry is cashing in on the opportunity. As Mr Ramesh Iyer, Executive Director, Topsgrup (www.topsgrup.com) puts it. “Globally, the security industry is estimated at $140 billion and it is growing at around 10-12 per cent CAGR (Compound annual growth rate). Among the high-growth markets are India, China, South America, South Africa, Middle East and some of the South Asian countries.”

Increased urbanisation, poverty owing to imbalanced development, terrorism, economic development, and asset creation have forced stakeholders to look for security. This is where those men in uniforms sporting friendly smiles but firm attitudes come in. Topsgrup employs over 65,000 guards and has a clientele that includes Tata, HSBC, IDBI, Oracle, Birla, Reliance, and Airtel.

Individuals too have benefited through the company’s Emergency Response System that has so far saved 7,000 lives within a short span of time. “Under this service our team is guaranteed to respond within 9 minutes from the time an emergency call is received from the subscriber and the actual response time has been 6.42 minutes,” Mr Iyer remarks.

To know more about this sunrise sector, read the interview done with Business Line over the email.

Edited excerpts.

Can you tell us about the size of the security industry in India, and your share in the Indian market?

Size of security industry in India is approximately Rs 4,000 crore, combining the organised and unorganised markets. Topsgrup has a 20 per cent market share in the organised space in India.

Topsgrup has many firsts to its name…

Yes. In 1995, we were the first Indian security group to introduce Marine Patrolling Services. Three years later, we again became the first Indian Security Group to launch a specialised Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Division called TOPSCAIPRE™ for curbing industrial, commercial and film and audio piracy. In 2005, Tops Security received equity participation from by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Just recently, we also became the first Indian security group to acquire a security company in the UK.

From an industry perspective, what have been the key drivers for growth in India?

Key drivers to growth in India have been rising urbanisation, aggressive construction activity across the globe, growing consumer awareness of security risks and the burgeoning global economy. The revival of the travel and tourism industry as well as the rise in terrorism activities, and heightened local crime levels have also contributed to this growth.

Where are you seeing the fastest growth? Manned security?

90 per cent of our revenues come from manned guarding. And it is growing at 48 per cent CAGR. The balance 10 per cent of our revenue comes from ‘Strategic Business Group’ which includes services like intelligence, cash management, facilities management, event management, training, uniform manufacturing, emergency response service and air ambulance service.

You laid out big revenue targets for the years ahead. How do you plan to achieve the targets?

Yes. Projection for the year 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 is Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively. The same will be achieved through a combination of organic and inorganic business both in domestic as well as international markets.

Has the recent law governing the industry been giving impetus to consolidation?

The industry though had started in an unorganised way; we have now associated to form (CAPSI) Central Association of Private Security Industry. Security industry has also matured over a period through various regulatory policies with the latest being the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005.

Large corporates are investing in security. Is there an ideal spend towards security?

The ideal spend on security is largely industry-specific taking into consideration the risk factors associated with the customers and the environment.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your services?

Like other sectors, we too have out metrics. Performance metrics important in the security industry are retaining customers, good governance by being transparent and ethical, compliance with statutory norms, and also retaining employees.

Where does the industry draw its manpower requirements from? Do you find women increasingly opting for a career in security?

The manpower is drawn from the low-income strata of the society coming from the poverty-stricken areas and also from the States which do not provide enough employment opportunities.

There has been increase in the recruitment and deployment of lady guards in some specific industry segments which have a very high growth going forward like retail etc.

Do you train people or have you targeted places from where you draw trained manpower?

We are setting up 5 training academies – in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi – to conduct residential training program not only for our captive requirements in manned guarding but also to conduct external training program for other industry segments. We are also on the verge of starting professional security courses (in affiliation with reputed universities abroad) which will help develop security professionals.

How different are you from ‘traditional’ guarding?

We launched ‘Emergency Response Service’ (Topsline 1252) in Mumbai, Thane and Vashi, on the lines of the US’ 911 service and the UK’s 999 service. Under this service our team is guaranteed to respond within 9 minutes from the time an emergency call is received from the subscriber. We have so far saved 7,000 lives since the inception of the service 3 years back and the actual response time has been 6.42 minutes as against the guaranteed response time of 9 minutes. We are organising the requisite funds to launch the service in the other metros too.

Do assignments involving celebrities pose special challenges for security?

Executive protection, yes. It does pose special challenges considering the brand reputation of the celebrity. The effort mainly goes towards close protection for the celebrity and preventing the celebrity from getting mobbed.

Is it rhetoric to expect that world will be a safe one with all our security systems in place, especially in the face of terrorism wreaking havoc at surprise intervals?

If security is treated as investment and not as a cost, then the chances of the world becoming a safer place increase. Most of the terrorist activities take place because adequate safety measures were not taken.

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