/dq/media/media_files/2025/01/30/uXyJHgwkn04ADlW1PxEb.png)
The Union budget 2025-26 will be announced on February 1 at a time when India stands at the precipice of AI-led transformation. With businesses, governance and daily life heavily intertwined with AI-powered digital platforms, ensuring the security of the country’s thriving digital ecosystem has never been more critical.
Strong preventive security measures
Strong exposure management practices are essential to proactive security. Research consistently shows that a significant proportion of cyberattacks exploit known, but unpatched, vulnerabilities. By identifying and prioritizing these weaknesses, organizations can significantly reduce their cyber risk exposure. Exposure management not only mitigates potential threats but also strengthens the overall resilience of digital platforms, enabling businesses to thrive securely in today’s AI-driven ecosystem.
Awareness, upskilling and talent development
The cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen, compounding the challenge of maintaining resilience in the face of escalating cyberattacks. According to the World Economic Forum, the global cybersecurity industry is facing a workforce shortage of 2.8 million to 4.8 million professionals. This acute shortfall leaves more than two-thirds of organizations vulnerable to advanced cyberattacks and data breaches. Alarmingly, the skills gap has grown by 8% in just one year.
It is critical to tackle the root causes of this workforce gap to effectively address these shortages and build sustainable cybersecurity talent pipelines. Misconceptions about the daily roles of cybersecurity professionals, along with limited awareness of how to entier the field and the career opportunities it offers, deter individuals from pursuing careers in cybersecurity.
A larger budgetary allocation is needed to fund comprehensive awareness campaigns, training initiatives, and upskilling programs. Partnerships with leading educational institutions can help develop specialized curricula that prepare talent for an AI-driven future. Additionally, government funding could incentivize the private sector to invest in robust skill development programs, attracting more talent to the industry and creating a resilient talent pipeline.
Investing in public-private partnerships is another vital step. Collaborative efforts between industry and government to roll out skill development initiatives in universities, coupled with internship opportunities for engineering students, can attract young professionals at scale and strengthen the talent pipeline for the cybersecurity sector.
Industry-government collaboration for better cybersecurity infrastructure
The National Cybersecurity Policy introduced in 2023, along with subsequent budget allocations for awareness-building, has set India on the right track to strengthening its cyber defenses. In 2024, the government launched significant R&D projects to promote proof of concepts and test beds for advancing cybersecurity. However, the country still lacks a comprehensive research base for technology and product development, testing, evaluation, and a robust certification framework to further enhance its cybersecurity posture.
While the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is collaborating with academia and R&D labs, there is a pressing need to expand these efforts. Public-private partnerships can play a critical role in accelerating this process through shared resources and expertise. Such collaborations can enable the creation of shared threat intelligence platforms, advancements in cloud and AI security, and cutting-edge research to address India’s evolving cyber threats. Increased budgetary allocations to incentivize public-private partnerships would significantly bolster India’s ability to deter rising cyber adversaries.
The 2025-26 budget presents a pivotal opportunity to strengthen India’s cybersecurity capabilities. By adopting strategic initiatives, India can emerge as a leader in the global cybersecurity landscape, addressing the skills gap and fostering innovation. Investing in preventative security, public-private partnerships and directing resources toward cyber resilience is not just an opportunity—it is an imperative.
By Rajnish Gupta, Managing Director & Country Manager, Tenable India