SIS crosses Rs 10,000 crore annual revenue mark for the first time

On Wednesday, SIS—the private security industry company—reported consolidated revenue for FY22 at Rs 10,059 crore. The FY22 operating PAT of SIS stood at Rs 288.6 crore, which is 49.1% up year-on-year, and it also reported highest-ever quarterly revenue of Rs 2,648 crore.

“This industry was least impacted due to lockdowns and amongst the few to have reported growth even when the economy wasn’t doing well,” Rituraj Kishore Sinha, group MD, SIS, told FE.

He added that FY22 has been a landmark year for SIS. “We crossed the Rs 10,000 crore annual revenue mark for the first time in our history. All business segments continued to report healthy growth despite the impact of Covid-19 second and third waves, resulting in 10.2% growth year-on-year. The pandemic has underlined the resilient nature of our business, amply demonstrated by our monthly revenue run rate, which was Rs 942.4 crore for March 2022, compared to Rs 719.7 crore in March 2020 (pre-Covid-19), which is a growth of 31%,” Sinha said.

SIS currently employs 251,000 people. Of these, 167,000 are in private security, 66,000 in facility management, 9,000 in cash logistics, and 9,000 in international security business (SIS is also present in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand). SIS is amongst top-10 private sector employers in India.

“My own assessment is that PSI grows 2-3 times GDP growth, and this means that even when GDP contracts, this industry grows,” he said. “These services are needed in good times, but they are needed more in times of crisis. Today, you can’t run a hospital without the cleaning staff and security guards outside. It was one of the few sectors which didn’t have massive layoffs during the pandemic year.”

According to a FICCI report, private security industry (PSI) is one of the largest employers in India—with over 9 million employees and the potential to employ 3 million more by the end of 2022. These unarmed security guards are employed with about 22,000 private security agencies (PSAs), and key players are G4S, SIS, Securitas, Peregrine, CISS, Checkmate, etc, covering areas such as private security, facility management and cash logistics services.

The demand for security services is increasing due to urbanisation, the real and perceived risks of crime, belief that public safety measures are insufficient, and growth of a middle class with assets to protect and means to pay for supplementary security measures.