Moreover, according to Central Association of Private Security Industry, annual turnover of the segment has touched Rs 22,000 crore (Rs 220 billion) last year and is growing at a rate of 25-30 per cent growth per annum.

"Presently, more than five million people are engaged in this profession and the sector is generating more than one million additional jobs every year," Capsi president Kunwar Vikram Singh told PTI.

In the next four-five years, total employment generation in the sector would cross the 10 million mark, he added.

Interestingly, with the number of shopping malls cropping up, there is also a surge in the demand for female security guards, who currently account for about five per cent of the workforce in private security segment.

At present, more than 50,000 security agencies are working in the country, all of which are Indian firms as government policy bars foreign players in the sector, he said.

"The high growth in the segment is primarily driven by demand from sectors such as retail, construction, hotel and tourism, and from large manufacturing units," Singh said.

With corporates outsourcing to security agencies rather than appointing guards by themselves, the sector has witnessed a change in the attitude compared to that in the mid 90s, he said, adding it had helped in attracting people in lower strata of the society for employment.

"The most important thing is that the segment is providing job opportunity to people of below poverty line, most of them are from villages and doesn't have any skill," Singh said.

He said average qualification of an employee in the segment is matriculation and almost 90 per cent of the people engaged in this profession are from below poverty line.

Singh also said the segment is also helping in generating revenues from overseas as more than 20,000 Indians are engaged in private security jobs in the Middle East and Africa.