Maintenance costs hinder use of CCTVs in India

Hyderabad: Despite the use of CCTV cameras slowly becoming a common necessity, the huge maintenance costs are acting as a deterrent in its widespread use. However, the concept of contract service could possibly be the solution for the CCTV friendly masses.

Zicom Electronic Secu-rity Systems managing director Pramoud Rao says, “We provide a contract-based service for a period of four years under which the company bears the initial capital investment of installing CCTV cameras and also covers its maintenance cost for nominal annual charges. The benefits for customers are that they are freed of all the hassles of running and maintaining a CCTV camera and at a minimal cost. The annual maintenance cost of CCTVs can be as high as 1.5 times the cost of the original equipment over a period of three to five years. However, this can be addressed by using internet-based cameras.

Godrej Security Solutions head marketing Mehernosh B. Pithawalla says, “Cameras connected to the IP network eliminates the need for expensive coaxial cabling to cameras. Viewing footage requires only a computer and a web browser or dedicated software reducing operational costs.”

CCTVs have come as a much needed respite for the security seeking masses. Incidents like 26/11 have triggered the dema-nd for security and since then about 10 million CCTV camera units are supplied every year in India. “The demand for CCTV cameras has been going up while camera needs have soared by 123 per cent  in New Delhi in just one year. Cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai  have  posted a dem-and of 13 per cent from while Bengaluru had a CCTV camera demand of 16 per cent. It is projected that the market is expected to increase exponentially by 2018,” said Mr Pithawalla.

As per a report, the market size of CCTV cameras was $306 million in 2013 and is expected to touch $615 million mark by 2018 in India.