India's Data Breach Costs Reach Record High
India's data breach costs have reached an all-time high of Rs 25.5 crore in 2026, according to a report by IBM.
This represents a 16% increase from last year's average cost of Rs 22 crore, with the number of compromised records also rising to 39,500 on average in 2026, up from 38,200 in 2025.
Gaurav Agarwal, vice president of technology at IBM India and South Asia, emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in cybersecurity, stating that AI with agentic capabilities must be embedded across the full security lifecycle to build resilience and a competitive advantage.
The report found that organisations with no AI and automation in their security operations paid an average of Rs 31.6 crore per breach, compared to Rs 21.3 crore for those with extensive use and Rs 23.1 crore for those with limited deployment.