The Indian physical security market is expected to grow along with the country’s economy. Several factors, like advanced technology and increased business opportunities, will play a major role in this growth.
As 2022 draws to a close, the Indian physical security industry remains optimistic about the coming year. Although several concerns like geopolitical tension, economic slowdown, and lingering pandemic worries persist, market players expect increased demand.
With the country’s economy growing steadily, 2023 could bring significant changes in technologies, applications, products, and solutions to the physical security market. Solution providers and customers are expected to look beyond traditional physical security as the technologies (AI, cloud computing, IoT, and cyber security) and trends evolve.
This article explores the main trends we expect to see in the Indian physical security market and consumer behavior in 2023.
5 trends to expect
According to Ashish Dhakan, MD & CEO of Prama Hikvision India, the industry is moving from a mere security domain to encompass a broader scope of activity that will expand the next level of safety and business intelligence. He listed five significant trends to expect
1. AI Applications will drive growth
Artificial Intelligence is gaining momentum in the Indian security industry and is bound to drive growth in the enterprise vertical segments. The vertical-based end-user in the industry has recognized the value of AI and has found new uses for AI applications in various scenarios.
“From ANPR, automated event alerts, and false alarm reduction, AI technologies are being used for wider applications, like personal protective equipment (PPE) detection, fall detection for the elderly, mine surface detection, and much more,” Dhakan pointed out.
2. AIoT trend will go to the next level
With more security cameras and other devices connected to the network, the Indian security industry is becoming an essential part of the AIoT trend. This will take the security industry to the next level of digital transformation.
“With more perception capabilities like radar, lidar, temperature measuring, humidity sensing, and gas leak detection are being added to security devices and systems,” Dhakan said. “This will lead to multifunctional perception capabilities, parameters, and functions embedded in the security system. This will not only expand the scope of security systems but make them evolve into more holistic solutions.”
3. Converged security systems will be in demand
The convergence of various security systems onto a platform has been proven to be an effective approach toward security. It is expected that app-based converged security systems will be in demand.
4. Cloud-based solutions and services will expand
Cloud-based solutions and services are expanding in India as more customers become aware of their benefits. Interest in the cloud is seen across verticals and scales, from small businesses to enterprise-level organizations. Until recently, internet connectivity in India was not entirely reliable. But this situation is changing now, allowing more adoption of cloud-based technology.
5. Biometric access control will move to the next phase
In recent decades, authorized access control has moved away from keys, pin codes, and ID cards. We now find ourselves stepping into the next phase of the biometrics era. The access control market is rapidly occupied by biometric authentications, from fingerprint and palm print recognition to facial and iris recognition.
More opportunities to make in India
Sanjeev Sehgal, Founder and MD of Sparsh CCTV, pointed out that one of the biggest developments to watch out for is the increased interest in manufacturing in India. Several factors, including uncertainties in China, have forced companies like Apple to move much of their production to India. This trend could continue with government and industry support, increasing opportunities for security solution providers.
“There is a huge opportunity on the manufacturing side in India,” Sehgal explained. “Many companies have already shifted or are in the process of shifting their bases here. This brings in more opportunities, with more focus from the Indian government on manufacturing, especially electronic manufacturing. The next level would be moving towards the semiconductors, something for the industry to keep an eye on next year and in the coming years.”
Manufacturing of physical security products itself is another exciting area to consider. Dhakan pointed out that with their emphasis on “Make in India,” there is significant progress in import substitution.
“The ‘Make-in-India’ program is helping to lower dependence on imports and boost local production of high-value video security products,” Dhakan said. “The other reasons that are helping to regain the momentum for local manufacturing include economic stability, robust legal system, cost-effective labor, skilled workforce, high-quality production, cost savings on import duties, domestic market demand and ease of doing business.”
New growth areas across the verticals
Dhakan said that over the years, his company has managed to strengthen its position in the traditional vertical markets. But now, new verticals are emerging along with the time and trends.
“The new verticals of the future are evolving with the technology and market trends,” Dhakan said. “These newly evolving verticals are fast emerging E-Commerce, Logistic Hubs, Smart Mobility, Stat-up Ecosystem, Smart Farming, Renewable Energy and Industry 4.0, etc.”
A shift in consumer behavior
The major shift in customer behavior is the growing fascination for transformative technologies like AI, IoT, and Blockchain.
“Hikvision’s impressive AI analytics technologies refer to a subset of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to gain insights, find patterns, and discover relationships in the data,” Dhakan said. “In practice, it is the process of automating the analysis a human would normally perform. In physical security, AI analytics use powerful algorithms to automate detection, categorization, and analysis of objects and motions in a camera’s view.”
It reduces costs, speeds up responses, and facilitates new practices and processes. Easy and affordable artificial intelligence has come to the mass market and a diverse set of users.
“Analytics is a major factor,” Sehgal said. “Because with the more usage of more AI-enabled devices and IoT solutions, analytics is going to play a major role, bringing more opportunities. In the last few years, we have seen many startups come up in India that are working on this. They have seen reasonably good growth.”
Conclusion
The Indian physical security market is expected to grow along with the country’s economy. Several factors, like advanced technology and increased business opportunities, will play a major role in this growth.
Although there is some concern about the global economic slowdown, experts suggest that the Indian market would remain unaffected because of the local market demand. Although this makes sense, we will have to keep a close watch on this aspect.