Cybersecurity, data privacy biggest concerns for Indian businesses: Dell survey
New Delhi/Bengaluru, Sep 25: Most business leaders in India regard data privacy and cybersecurity concerns as the biggest barrier to their digital transformation, a new report from Dell Technologies said on Tuesday.
According to the research, 93 per cent of Indian businesses are facing major impediments to digital transformation today.
Almost half of Indian business leaders believe they will struggle to meet changing customer demands within five years, according to the report tilted "Digital Transformation Index" (DT Index).
Offering insights into the areas where Indian businesses are considering investment to drive their digital transformation, the research showed that regulation or legislative changes and lack of the right in-house skill sets and expertise are the other top concerns for Indian businesses.
The research also indicates that businesses are taking steps to overcome their barriers, along with the threat of being outmaneuvered from more nimble, innovative players.
Close to 75 per cent of Indian businesses -- 19 per cent more than in China -- intend to invest in cybersecurity in the next one to three years, according to the report.
Conducted in collaboration with Intel Corp, the research showed that 67 per cent of Indian businesses intend to invest in IoT (Internet of Things) technologies - 11 per cent more than that of Chinese companies.
While 62 per cent of Indian businesses intend to invest in multi-Cloud (7 per cent more than Chinese firms), 61 per cent of Indian businesses intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence (only one per cent more than companies in China), the findings showed.
For this study, independent research firm Vanson Bourne surveyed 200 business leaders in India from mid to large-size companies to gauge their organisations' place on the Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index.
The global results of the report, based on 4,600 respondents from 42 countries, will be released in early 2019, Dell Technologies said.
The report said that 37 per cent of Indian businesses plan to invest in Blockchain, 31 per cent in quantum computing and 42 per cent in augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies in the next one to three years.
"The next digital era has arrived and it's reshaping the way we live, work and conduct business. Which means that time is of the essence. Genuine transformation needs to happen now, and it needs to be radical," Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director - India Commercial, Dell EMC, said in a statement.
The findings showed that just 12 per cent of Indian businesses are "Digital Leaders" - companies that are digitally advanced - up from 8 per cent in 2016 when the previous edition of the report was published.
The share of "Digital Adopters" -- companies that have a mature digital plan, investments and innovations in place -- went up to 34 per cent this year, from 29 per cent in 2016.
The share of "Digital Evaluators", companies that are cautiously and gradually embracing digital transformation has grown to 40 per cent, from 37 per cent in 2016.
The percentage of "Digital Followers" (a digitally immature group) has also dropped, from 21 per cent in 2016, to 14 per cent in 2018, according to the survey.
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RBI keeps policy rate unchanged amid inflationary pressure
Mumbai (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Wednesday expectedly kept interest rates unchanged amid hopes of a global recovery on the back of ceasefire in the six-week-long US/Israel-Iran conflict.
The policy decision comes as a month and a-half-long West Asia conflict has disrupted energy supplies, shot up crude oil prices and created fiscal and inflationary pressures for import-dependent nations like India.
This is the first monetary policy review after the government announced a fresh inflation target for the RBI last month. The government has asked the RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for another five years ending March 2031.
Announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously decided to retain short-term lending rate or repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance.
The rate cut pause comes on the back of the consumer price index (CPI) based headline retail inflation that moved closer to the RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent at 3.21 per cent in February.
Additionally, the rupee has depreciated by over 4 per cent since the war, which has consequences for pushing up import inflation.
However, the rupee has appreciated by 50 paise to 92.56 against US dollar following announcement of the ceasefire by the US and Iran.
Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February, April, and December 2025 and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation.
India's retail inflation dropped to a historic low of 0.25 per cent in October 2025, marking the lowest level since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) series was introduced.
However, the rupee declined to historic low and crossed 95 against a dollar last month making imports costlier, raising fears of rise in inflation. Rupee touched a record low of 95.21 on March 30, 2026.
