Terror flip-side: 40% growth in pvt security job market

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New Delhi: Nand Kumar Singh, 37, left his village in Bihar’s Aurangabad district to come to Delhi in 1997 and get himself recruited as a security guard with a private security company for a monthly salary of Rs 1,800. A decade later, he is supervising 800-plus guards and is taking home a salary of Rs 35,000. Having acquired the status of a role model, Singh is now attracting hordes of young men from his village who queue up to join the private security industry.

Not every one of the 55-lakh strong private security workforce rise like Singh. But the job opportunities that have opened up in recent years have ensured a steady stream of young, unemployed men from small-town India making their way to metros like Delhi. The 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes have only multiplied the demand for “eligible” manpower with private security companies going on recruitment sprees.

The private security industry, which already was growing at 25 per cent annually, is now witnessing an estimated growth of 40 per cent per annum. As the vulnerabilities of private commercial establishments, exposed by the 26/11 strikes, have got corporates running for cover, the demand for trained manpower is at an all-time high.

“After the Mumbai attacks, growth has skyrocketed. The demand for trained men is so high that many establishments are not getting quality manpower,” says Colonel (retd) Jagat Trikha, executive director of the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI). In fact, CAPSI has started entering into MoUs with many state governments. “Under the MoU, the state government organises job-fairs for local unemployed youth. We, as an industry body, get major private security agencies to set up stalls at these fairs where they can pick up men to be recruited as guards,” says Trikha.

Results are showing. “In one year after we signed the MoU with the state government, around 45,000 men have been recruited from Rajasthan only. The recruiters included names like G4S, Terra Force, Walsons and SIS,” he says.

“Post 26/11, corporates have become more security conscious and are keen to review their existing systems. While most of them preferred their internal security checks earlier, now they want professional consultants to review their security systems,” says Anil Dhavan, president of the Asian Professional Security Association (APSA) who also heads the G4S security company.