Private detectives: A booming industry in modern India

New Delhi: With exponential growth in financial frauds as well as the growing requirement for background screening by companies and individuals, the private detective market in India is growing at a rate of around 30 per cent annually and is expected to reach Rs 1,700 crore by 2020. This figure was revealed by speakers at the inaugural session of the 92nd annual conference of the World Association of Detectives (WAD) in Delhi on Thursday.

This is the second time that WAD is holding its annual conference in India. First time, it was held in 1984 in New Delhi. WAD — the largest and longest established association of its kind in the world — represents investigation and security practitioners in more than 80 countries. It promotes and maintains the highest ethical practices among its members and fosters cooperation between investigators globally.

WAD president Kunwar Vikram Singh, who will take charge as India’s first WAD chairman at the end of the conference, said: “The private investigation market is huge in India. It is somewhere in the range of Rs 500-600 crore.”

Mr Singh, who is also the chairman of the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), said that to provide licences to private detectives — seeing how this business is growing and it needs to be a certified professional field — the government has brought an act in the Parliament for licensing and creating the dos and donts for the sector.

He said, “We expect this act will be passed soon. This will pave way for the government to work with private detectives. After the murder of a child in a school, many educational institutions are talking to private detective agencies to do a security audit and background check of the employees.”

This year the WAD annual conference is witnessing participation from more than 150 detectives from over 50 countries to brainstorm on challenges and opportunities in the sector. Lt. Gen. (retd) Rajinder Singh, who was the former director general (Infantry) in the Indian Army and the former commander of UN peace keeping forces, inaugurated the event.

On the future prospects of the private detective market in India, Mr Singh said that financial crimes have specifically grown by leaps and bounds and this is an area that private detective agencies can tap into more.

Mr Singh further said, “The corporate world’s success depends, to a large extent, on the novelty of an idea or intellectual property rights (IPRs) that they create and that they need to protect. Sometimes there are attempts to buyout people or to bribe key officials to get that information. Detectives come in here for protection and they have a great role in ensuring that ethical behaviour takes place.”