Private Security in Multinational Firms in India

The visual representation of wealth in many cities around the world goes hand in hand with the visual representation of risk. In India, for example, the omnipresence of risk is embodied in the sheer number of uniformed private security guards. With growing economic disparity between segments of the population, the task of managing the boundaries between spaces of wealth and spaces of poverty occurs on a continuous basis. It is commonplace for shopping malls, corporate buildings, educational institutions, apartment buildings, banks, petrol stations and commercial shops to have security guards posted at the entrance. In fact, India is reputed to have more private security personnel than any other country in the world (Gooptu, 2013:14).

This paper draws on interviews with fifty security guards, subcontractors and facilities managers in multinational firms in India. We explore the working conditions and training of guards. Since economic liberalization the private security industry in India has created a staggering number of new jobs both within India and worldwide in the past two decades. Reports indicate that there are 15,000 security agencies in India which employ between five and a half and seven million guards (Berrong, n.d). The industry comprises both small firms and large multinationals such as G4S, a 10 billon dollar transnational security company, which has 36 training centres, and recruits 6,500 guards per month (Srivastava, 2013).

The parallel growth of multinational corporations in India, and private security sector is far from accidental; indeed, the former has been an important impetus for the development of the latter. Global economic flows have not only given rise to the greater need for security guards, but they have also led to a new approach to private security in India and globally. The association of security agencies (CAPSI) notes that many guards are from villages or backward areas but companies want skilled youth who are educated and English-speaking (Indo-Asian, 2012). Guard training has been identified as a significant gap and has led to the creation of the Security Knowledge and Development Council (SKSDC) (George, 2013).

This paper focuses on the experiences of private security workers who are simultaneously at the forefront of the management of risk, and at risk themselves. We explore the mechanisms through which workers are “trained” and transformed into young women and men who have the correct embodied traits - time discipline, spoken English and deference to ensure the safety of a deemed national asset - foreign capital. At the same time, despite the rhetoric of training and skill, security guards are classified as unskilled and their minimum wages are set accordingly (Indo Asian, 2012; George, 2013). State, labour and corporate officials evoke the discourse of labour shortage in unison. Yet the assumed scarcity of labour has had little impact on the poor conditions and prospects of guards currently employed. We highlight the challenges these guards face due to subcontracting which leads to low wages and unstable work times.