By 2020 India will become one of the largest players in global homeland security market, according to a recent study.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) & KPMG report titled 'Homeland Security in India' says, India, along with Britain, Germany and France will out grow U.S., which currently enjoys a 34 percent market share in this filed.

India, which currently shares 3.6 percent of global homeland expenditure, will require to take it upwardly to an extent of six percent over the next decade to effectively take on emerging security risks. The report has predicted that China, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and UAE are expected to exhibit the fastest market growth in this sector, driven by a combination of economic growth along with increasing threats of terrorism faced by these countries.

"By 2020 about six percent of global procurement in the field of homeland security is expected to be emanated from India," says Dr. Swati Piramal, President, ASSOCHAM.

As per current estimates homeland security expenditure projection as a percentage of global spending in case of India is 3.6 percent, France - 3.4 percent, Germany - 3.7 percent, Saudi Arabia - 4.5 percent, UK - 3.9 percent, China - 5.2 percent, U.S. - 33.3 percent.

The report added that India offers a large potential for firms looking to leverage the opportunity manifested in this sector in the country on account of high GDP growth, challenging relationship with neighbors that are unlikely to resolve in the years ahead, aging and obsolete equipment and high spending on modernizing military capabilities and industrial infrastructure.

The paper points out that a significant market opportunity exists in several domains consisting of larger homeland security sector, such as police reforms, critical infrastructure protection and counter-terrorism activities. Homeland security will have to enhance further since India has opened up its nuclear sector post signing Civil Nuclear Co-operation Treaty with U.S. which is likely to create a large demand for nuclear/radiological mitigation approaches. Nuclear market requirements will be extremely critical and India will have to spend a great deal to keep its nuclear installations completely fool-proof against all possible security threats.