By ZakirRangwala
Indian antivirus market has been witnessing steady growth for past decade. Although today it is not growing as fast as it was some five years back, and there are many various reasons behind this, it is still 
an attractive market. Considering not only traditional antivirus products but also various solutions for mobile and tablet security, advanced endpoint solutions, including some new back-up products and virtualization tools for enterprise segment, overall security market has space to grow further and deeper.
However, in its diversity lies the problem. Being a market with more than 50 players in home segment and more than 20 players in enterprise segment, Indian security marketremains not only highly competitive, it remains extremely price sensitive and less quality-sensitive which eventually becomes a problem for the end-customers to whom the industry is catering.
The piracy is still a huge problem in India. The distinction between effective and not-so-effective software, the difference between antivirus software based on advanced in-house malware detection engine and the one based onthird party or open source engines still does not exist among large section of end-usersin India. There is lack of understanding of importance of technology in day-to-day fight against cyber threats, and this gap in knowledge can only by filled by proper education of end-users, the channel which is a very important bridge between software developers and end-users. There is lack of understand of what IT security is and overall, there is quite low computer literacy in our country in comparison with vast numbers of computer and Internet users. This lack of education determines the way antivirus as well as other software products are being marketed in India.
We believe it is a responsibility of the Government to increase computer literacy in the country (apart from increasing IT penetration), and this is already happening at a certain pace with help of several initiatives like DigitalIndia, Smart Cities, etc.However, given the large population of our country, its diversity, we believe it is necessary for industry players themselves to engage in such activities. That is what our company has been doing for many years now. Educating end-users in both home and enterprise segment, particularly in SME segment, educating channel partners, resellers and system integrators is important for creating a mature and sustainable market. There should be better dialogue established between government, professional associations, vendors and software distributors and resellers to make this happening, all these parties should focus on creating value rather than trying to retain margins. We feel security software industry so far has been lacking a long-tern vision and strategic outlook. This is something industry players should work on.
Today antivirus industry in India is all about aggressive marketing and competitive pricing. While engaging in various marketing activities and working aggressively with channel, we remain focused on technology, we offer the market technology-sound, reliable and easy to use products. We also believe in communicating with customers – educating them about the products, providing good support and collecting and analyzing their feedback to improve the quality of our services and make the products we offer better. This is something that ensures growth of business not only today or this year, but in very long-term perspective.
(The author is heading the ESS Distribution. The views expressed here are his own. )