MC EXCLUSIVE National Cybersecurity Strategy back in motion after delays, says official

NSCS joint secretary Narendra Nath Gangavarapu

Work on India’s long-awaited National Cybersecurity Strategy has resumed in full swing, with consultations underway across ministries, industry stakeholders and critical sectors, according to Narendranath Gangavarapu, Joint Secretary at the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) functions as the executive arm of the National Security Council, which is chaired by the Prime Minister and headed operationally by the National Security Adviser (NSA)

In a conversation with Moneycontrol at the India Mobile Congress, Gangavarapu said the document will provide a unified framework for safeguarding India’s digital infrastructure.

“Despite the absence of a formal strategy, the work that needs to be done has been continuing in parallel,” he said, adding that the formal strategy “will bring coherence across government and industry.”

He noted that the upcoming document will also help India’s ranking in the International Telecommunication Union’s cybersecurity index, which lists a national strategy as a key metric.

“It’s important to have a strategy document to ensure all stakeholders have a common understanding of what needs to be done,” he said.

India’s National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS), first proposed in 2013, has undergone several iterations over the past decade but remains unpublished.

Gangavarapu also explained how the NSCS worked in tandem with government departments and ministries during the recent border skirmish between India and Pakistan.

“Before Operation Sindoor itself, the attacks had started. They were detected and mitigated — and those things don’t happen overnight,” he said, adding that the resilience came from years of capacity-building.

“We leveraged CERT-In’s infrastructure and the Telecom Security Operations Centre, which has probes across the country, to monitor traffic and predict attacks. A 24x7 control room was operational during that period to ensure the networks kept running," the official explained.