With the proliferation of security conscious multinational companies, one of the allied sectors that has witnessed the fastest growth is the private security industry. The private security industry which currently employs 50 lakh heads (a figure that exceeds the combined strength of police depaRTment, armed forces and paramilitary forces which employ 35 lakh personnel) is projected to give jobs to 1 crore people by 2012-13, according to a Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) spokesperson. Going by the current trends, of the total jobs that will be created in the security industry, around 75% to 80% will go to the rural youth who migrates to the cities.
The private security industry currently valued at Rs 22,000 crore is growing in the range of 25-30% to touch Rs 50,000 crore by 2012-13, according to an industry estimate. Validating the growth, an Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) official confirmed that since last three to four years the number of private security agencies registering with EPFO has shown a tremendous increase and the existing agencies are increasing their manpower strength.
Security consultant and expert Capt Ravee said, ?Most of the manpower is sourced from rural areas surrounding the cities. The agencies train them and in a year?s time, they start using computer apart from learning other soft skills. The manpower absorption potential of the security industry should be harnessed to solve the unemployment crisis of the country.? The salaries of security personnel vary from one state to another depending on the minimum wages of the respective state but the cost of hiring one security person, clocking 8 hour shift a day for a month is close to Rs 8,500-9,000. The salary of a security personnel in a place like Delhi is around Rs 5,000/month.
The range of activities that is demanded of security personnel is also growing, in the wake of rising threat perception triggered by recent bomb blasts and the industry is responding by stepping up the training imparted to the rural young guys the sector recruits, according to Vivek Kumar, the managing director of Globe Detective Agency that boasts of a clientele including Oracle, Microsoft, Siemens. The corporate houses have stepped up their demand for security personnel and security services like intelligence gathering referred to as ?undercover? activities. Most private security agencies admit getting calls from large corporate houses to beef up security arrangements and equip their personnel with additional training following the recent bomb blast series.
There has also been a demand for equipping the security personnel to identify crude bombs, conduct exhaustive physical search etc. Referring to the blasts Kumar said, ?With every such episode, the industrial houses in the vicinity of the incident become extra alert. But the flip side is whenever an organization implements cost cutting measures, security bill faces the first brunt. Currently the sale of metal detectors has shot up in the western region as a response to the bomb blasts.?