"WE MUST PROMOTE INDIGENOUS SOLUTIONS"

Quick Heal Technologies’ Joint Managing Director SANJAY KATKAR and CEO VISHAL SALVI, in an interview with BW Businessworld’s Rohit Chintapali, discuss the company’s growth in the enterprise space, the state of India’s cybersecurity ecosystem, and trends in cybersecurity spending across the country. Excerpts

- Rohit Chintapali

Quick Heal has been around in Indian market since the 1990s. Tell us about your relatively recent strategy and pivot towards enterprise.

Sanjay Katkar: We began our journey in the 1990s, focusing on antivirus for PCs as the internet and email were evolving. Initially, we managed limited virus threats effectively, adapting quickly as threats grew. Early in the 2000s, we introduced AI and machine learning, allowing us to automate threat detection, essential now with over 500,000 daily malware threats. By 2003-04, we led the consumer antivirus market, holding a 34-35 per cent share.

In 2010-12, after securing Sequoia investment, we expanded into small business protections. Post-2016 IPO, we increased our focus on enterprise security, launching products under our brand Seqrite while Quick Heal remained for consumers. Enterprise revenue grew from 5-10 per cent to 40 per cent since 2016, with projected growth beyond 50 per cent in three years, as consumer growth remains stable but flattish. We now offer a comprehensive product range, including Zero Trust and enterprise mobility management, with a stronger focus on enterprise growth.

From B2C to B2B, it must’ve been quite a change…

SK: Enterprise threats are evolving in complex ways, with ransomware now shifting from broad attacks to highly targeted strikes on entities most likely to pay. This change, along with an increase in advanced persistent threats (APT), often state-sponsored, has heightened the need for a more comprehensive cybersecurity approach. Enterprises can no longer rely solely on endpoint security; they require a multi-layered defence spanning mobile and network devices, routers, and endpoints.