Cybersecurity Talent Gap Hits 30% as Salaries Rise in India

India’s demand for cybersecurity professionals is rising as companies increase investments in AI, cloud infrastructure and customer data protection, with specialised cybersecurity roles seeing significant salary premiums, according to TeamLease Digital report.

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Demand expands beyond IT companies

According to TeamLease Digital CEO Neeti Sharma, cybersecurity hiring is increasing across IT services, global capability centres (GCCs), banks, manufacturing and FMCG companies as organisations expand their digital operations.

TeamLease Digital estimates that demand for cybersecurity specialists increased by 15–20% between 2025 and 2026 and by 18–19% quarter-on-quarter. Freshers with relevant cybersecurity skills are also seeing salary premiums of 10–20% in campus placements.

Mid-level cybersecurity engineers could see wage premiums of 20–22%, while senior and leadership positions may see premiums of 15–18%.

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The strongest salary increases are being reported for specialised skills in cloud security, AI risk, DevSecOps, zero-trust architecture, application security, and operational technology security.

Cybersecurity skills gap remains

TeamLease Digital estimates that India has around 4–5 lakh cybersecurity professionals, while employers are looking to fill nearly 40,000 open positions. The shortage of mid-to-senior professionals is estimated at 25–30%.

The shortage is particularly visible in application security, data security and data loss prevention, as well as cloud and infrastructure security.

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Some specialised roles are also commanding high salaries. A cloud security architect with more than 20 years of experience in a GCC can earn close to ₹1 crore.

The median fixed pay for a cloud security architect with more than 15 years of experience in a GCC is estimated at ₹98.6 lakh.

An operational technology security architect in manufacturing is estimated to earn around ₹95.8 lakh.

However, Xpheno co-founder Kamal Karanth offered a more cautious assessment of hiring volumes. Xpheno’s data showed slightly more than 7,000 listed cybersecurity openings, broadly stable over the past two years.

IT services accounted for 49% of these openings, followed by consulting, BFSI, HR services and network security companies.

Karanth said cybersecurity salaries had increased by about 20% year-on-year, while the specialised nature of roles had reduced joining ratios to around 65%, compared with 75–80% earlier.

For HR teams, the trend points to growing competition for specialised cybersecurity talent, particularly professionals who combine security expertise with cloud, AI and infrastructure skills.

Employers may need to review hiring benchmarks, salary structures and internal reskilling programmes as demand for these capabilities increases.