The Indian security industry, along with its economy, is seeing major developments at present. Several large projects are currently underway and many are in the pipeline. These include both government and private sector initiatives. However, to some industry experts, despite the growth rate the market is yet to mat
The Indian security industry, along with its economy, is seeing major developments at present. Several large projects are currently underway and many are in the pipeline. These include both government and private sector initiatives.
However, to some industry experts, despite the growth rate the market is yet to mature.
“The market is growing and the pace is good, but I feel it is still at a relatively infant stage,” said Nitin Joshi, MD of Realty Automation and Security Systems. “I think it would take at least four to five years to mature, because safety is still not the major concern as far as the common man is concerned.”
He gave an example of a scenario seen in various cities. Most large buildings in these cities have some kind of fire and safety arrangement, but they are not maintained well, and the residents are not concerned about it. However he added that the awareness among people is seeing a change, especially because of improved consumer purchasing power and publicity in the media.
He further spoke about the nature of the business that Realty Automation is involved in. The company has a systems integration division as well as a products division.
“We are a technology driven company, and we do projects where large installations are involved," Joshi said. "Typically we do integration projects involving video surveillance, fire alarms, PA systems, access control, entrance automation, IBMS, all these put together. Our projects division designs, then supplies products, installs, tests and commissions the whole system. So you could say we provide end-to-end services in systems integration.”
The company's products division manufactures a range of gas leak detectors for residential, commercial and industrial sectors. They also manufacture fire alarm systems, conventional as well as addressable. “We have collaboration with Apollo Fire Detectors UK, for manufacturing of addressable fire alarms.”
The customers that the company works with include hospitality. The company has done security upgrade for one of the leading hotel chains in India, the project for which involved securing the hotel itself along with two malls. “For the whole complex, we have provided an integrated safety, security and automation system.”
Another major vertical where their products have seen success is the banking sector. “Our systems have been installed at more than 12,000 ATMs across India and a few thousand bank branches," Joshi said. "These are connected systems, so our customers usually run their monitoring services, i.e. central monitoring systems that they have, to which our systems have connected. So if anyone attempts to break into an ATM, then our sensors sense that and send a signal to the CMS, where all the events are logged, video is logged and the operators can establish a two-way communication. He can give live warning. When one issues a live warning, generally thieves run away.”
The company has also done projects outside India, especially in sectors like oil and gas and process industries. Their customers include those from African countries, Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East.