Should allocate 15 pc of IT budget to cybersecurity: MeitY Secretary
New Delhi, July 3
At least 15 per cent of the government IT budget should be earmarked for cybersecurity, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, S. Krishnan, said on Friday, saying that cybersecurity cannot be treated as an afterthought and must be built into digital systems by design.
Addressing the Cybersecurity 360 Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Krishnan said cybersecurity requires constant vigilance as organisations cannot afford to take cyber risks lightly.
He stressed that 'security by design' must become a core principle in technology development and deployment, while urging industry to invest an optimum level of resources in cybersecurity, support domestic cybersecurity products and promptly report cyber incidents to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to strengthen collective defence and information sharing.
"When the government spends on IT, at least 15 per cent of the IT budget should go towards cybersecurity," Krishnan said.
Speaking at the event, Dr Amit Sharma, Additional Director General and Advisor, Department of Defence, Ministry of Defence, said the global race towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) represents a significant geopolitical shift and called for a proactive national roadmap for developing frontier AI models.
He said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has already issued a Request for Information (RFI) under its technology development programme for the creation of foundational AI models in the research domain.
Sharma also noted that the emergence of quantum computing would eventually render conventional cryptographic systems obsolete, making the transition to post-quantum cryptography a national priority.
Dr Gulshan Rai, Chairman of the CII Cybersecurity Task Force and former National Cyber Security Coordinator, said the rapid expansion of technologies such as 5G and the upcoming 6G networks has widened the cyberattack surface for both large enterprises and small businesses.
The summit -- organised by CII in partnership with MeitY and CERT- In -- brought together policymakers, industry leaders and cybersecurity experts to discuss strategies for strengthening India's digital resilience amid an evolving global threat landscape.
— IANS
Reader Comments
As someone working in IT, I completely agree. Cybersecurity can't be an afterthought — it must be built into the design phase. Many Indian companies still treat it as a checkbox compliance item rather than a core investment. Good to see MeitY pushing this.
Sounds good on paper, but we need implementation muscle too. Will the 15% be actually tracked and audited? Also, we should promote Made-in-India cybersecurity products — why rely on foreign solutions for protecting our national digital assets? #AtmanirbharBharat 🔐
Good to see India taking cybersecurity seriously. The quantum computing and AGI points are scary but real — we're not prepared for what's coming. This budget allocation is a step in the right direction, but I hope it comes with strict accountability.
Chalo, at least someone in the government is waking up! But I've seen so many IT projects where security was an afterthought — and then they wonder why data breaches happen. 15% is a good number, but let's see the ground reality. Hope they enforce it strictly! 💪
As a cybersecurity researcher, this is music to my ears! 'Security by design' is not just a buzzword — it's the only way forward. With 5G and IoT exploding, our attack surface is massive. Good to see policymakers engaged; now we need industry to step up too.
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