Average cost of data breaches in India hits record ₹22cr
What's the story
The average cost of a data breach in India has reached an all-time high of ₹22 crore in 2025, a 13% increase from last year. The figure was revealed in IBM's annual 'Cost of a Data Breach' report, which analyzed nearly 6,500 breaches over two decades. The study also highlights the growing gap between artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and security measures for protecting these systems.
Cybersecurity concerns
Unregulated AI systems becoming prime targets for cybercriminals
This year, IBM's report is the first to track AI-related security practices. While such breaches are still few, they indicate that unregulated AI systems are becoming a major target for cybercriminals. "India's accelerating AI adoption brings immense opportunity, but it's also exposing enterprises to new and complex cyber threats," said Viswanath Ramaswamy, VP of Technology at IBM India & South Asia.
Policy gaps
Major gap in cybersecurity preparedness amid rapid AI adoption
IBM's study found that nearly 60% of Indian organizations that suffered a breach either lacked AI governance policies or were still developing them. Only 37% had implemented AI access controls. Among those with governance policies, only 34% actually use AI-specific governance technology. This highlights a major gap in the cybersecurity preparedness of Indian organizations amid rapid AI adoption.
Cost factors
Financial impact of shadow AI
The report also highlights the financial impact of shadow AI, unregulated AI tools used outside an organization's IT or security teams. Shadow AI was one of the top three cost amplifiers, adding an average of ₹1.79 crore to breach costs in India. Phishing remained the top initial attack vector in India (18%), followed by third-party vendor and supply chain compromise (17%) and vulnerability exploitation (13%).
Automation gap
AI-driven security automation can significantly reduce breach costs
Despite clear evidence that AI-driven security automation can significantly reduce breach costs, nearly halving them, 73% of surveyed Indian organizations reported limited or no use of such tools. The research sector saw highest average breach cost at ₹28.9 crore, followed closely by transportation (₹28.8 crore) and industrials (₹26.4 crore). However, on a positive note, breach lifecycle times in India hit a record low of 263 days, a 15-day improvement over last year, as organizations improved their ability to detect/contain threats.