The national capital on November 15, 2018, witnessed the launch of Security Skills and Leadership Summit-2018, 13th Annual Conference of Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) & Association of Private Detective & Investigators (APDI) at PHD House, August Kranti Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi.
Shri Shivraj Patil, former Home Minister and Governor of Punjab was the chief guest at the event. Along with him, the event was also attended by many top dignitaries such as Kunwar Vikram Singh, Chairman and Member of the Governing Council, CAPSI; Mr. Mahesh C. Sharma, Secretary General, CAPSI; Sh. Ashok Prasad, IPS (Retd) Former Secretary (IS-MHA), Technical Advisor & Spokesperson MHA and Sh. Vivek Bhardwaj, IAS, Joint Secretary –MHA.
The two-day conference (15th-16th November 2018) started off with great mileage as enlightening discussions and powerful decisions for the welfare and development of the Private Security Industry (PSI), the second largest employment provider in India after the agriculture sector took the centre stage.
After lightening of lamps, Kunwar Vikram Singh addressed the gathering and welcomed all the dignitaries and members of CAPSI. In his address, Kunwar Vikram Singh said that “Private Security Industry (PSI) is already 8.2 million people strong and is aggressively growing with every passing year. But even with such robust growth rates by our side and crucial responsibility of managing the national security of the country on our head along with the security forces of police, army, navy and air force, there’s not much recognition for the guardsmen. To change this attitude, we need to go all mainstream and grow as an organized sector. And, to ensure the same every year we hold the Security Skills and Leadership Summit, Annual Conference of CAPSI & APDI where the national issues relating to PSI are discussed and solved.”
Voicing the issue of GST in the Private Security Industry, Kunwar Vikram Singh pointed out that around 1044 Private Security Agencies have been shut down because of the problem. The private security agencies have been demanding immediate implementation of ‘Reverse Charge Mechanism’ for GST payment so that payment of GST is done directly by service receiver to the government and those running Private Security Agencies are not burdened by it. Presently, the GST is deposited by the Security Agencies on 20th of the Month in which the Bill has been raised. However, the payment of these Bills is received by these agencies only after 60-90 days or more. Thus, the cash flow of this low-margin industry gets impacted seriously due to 2-3 months delay in getting payments.
Moreover, Kunwar Vikram Singh raising a demand for a separate directorate for PSI from the platform of Security Skills and Leadership Summit- 2018, said that “laws, rules and regulations that were created in the first place to safeguard the interests of private security companies and their professionals won’t be of much use unless there’s a dedicated department/Directorate to solely listen to their issues. A dedicated department/Directorate will surely resolve all challenges and problems faced by private security companies by creating a direct channel of communication between the security companies and the government.”
After the compelling speech of the CAPSI Chairman, Shri Shivraj Patil took the podium, in his address, the former Home Minister referred to the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 and 2001 Indian Parliament attack to point out the significance of policy in providing security to the individuals and the nation collectively. Moreover, Shri Shivraj Patil said that the security agencies should be very careful in selecting the security personnel as many incidents have occurred in which the security personnel have themselves attacked or assassinated the people.
During the conference members of the CAPSI also discussed some serious lacunae in the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005, which consistently acts as an impediment for the growth of the industry. The law which was drafted by the central government in 2005, encouraged the states to enact and enforce it. However, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the enforcement of the Act. Moreover, there is an overlapping set of Central and state regulations, leading to multiplicity of registrations to conduct business. This acts as a barrier for the security industry in providing services on a pan-India basis.
After the powerful speeches of the dignitaries, mementoes and awards were presented to the exceptional leaders and professionals of the PSI. To honour the courageous efforts of Security Guard Sh. Vishambhar Singh who died while protecting Rs 4.5 Crores cash of Brinks Cash Management from a robbery attempt, the Central Association of Private Security Industry CAPSI BRAVERY AWARD (Suraksha Shaurya Puraskar), posthumously and compensation of Rs 1.5 Lakhs were conferred to the brave heart’s family.
With the progression of the event, CAPSI announced the first in the world 3 year BBA course in security management for children of security supervisors. The course will be provided in collaboration with Noida International University (Noida) and Raksha Shakti University (Gujarat). Arrangements are also made to finance the education of bright students with special scholarships from SSSDC and Noida International University will also give the scholarship. To further support the costs of education, Nationalized banks are being approached to provide soft loans which are payable in 20 years.
The event was later followed by high-voltage discussions and decision-making sessions which covered crucial topics of GST imposition – “Survival of MSME of Security Sector” A National Challenge; Directorate of Private Security – A Game Changer; Certified Security Professionals- Excellence in Job Performance; MOU between ICISSM (International Council of Security & Safety Management) & CAPSI; CPII – Partnership between Insurance Investigators & Insurers in mitigation of Frauds and Star Rating of Private Security Agencies -A Joint initiative with Quality Council of India. To conclude with the day, the last session included discussions of organizational issues of CAPSI & APDI wherein the status reports and issues relating to their jurisdiction were put forward by all the Chapter Presidents.
