IP theft, cyber security & accidents top 3 threats for Indian industry: Survey

Intellectual property theft, information and cyber security threats and accidents have been ranked as the top three threats in India by the industry in a risk survey, according to a FICCI report. Also, ‘threat to women safety’ risk has jumped from 12th place in 2021 to 5th place in 2022 India Risk Survey, the report stated while urging companies to take measures to ensure the safety of their women employees.

According to respondents, the lowest risk is associated with terrorism and insurgency, the report released on Wednesday said.

Among sectors, logistics and construction segments have highlighted accidents and intellectual property theft as major ”risks” facing them.

”For the logistic sector, accidents are their second major concern as transportation is more prone to road accidents, while intellectual property theft has been placed at number one by the respondents. Likewise, the construction industry has voted accidents on the top position as the construction sites face a lot of challenges in combating accidents,” the ‘India Risk Survey’ of FICCI said.

The survey identifies 12 key areas of concern for businesses and five emerging risks that might seriously damage India’s business ecosystem.

The annual survey aims to identify potential risks in the context of a changing global environment, allowing business leaders to assess their circumspection for disruptive events like rapid digitalization, accidents, and business espionage, in the future and to ameliorate risk mitigation techniques.

India’s retail industry ranked accidents, intellectual property theft and natural hazards as its prime issues. The media and entertainment industry has marked information and cyber insecurity, business espionage and fire incidents as major threats.

For information & technology (IT) and manufacturing industry intellectual property theft is one of the top risks, while the consulting sector has placed business espionage in the second spot after cyber insecurity.

Other sectors which posed issues like accidents, intellectual property theft, business espionage among others as major risks are real estate, education, security services, financial services and hospitality.