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RRU, CAPSI Sign MoU to Set Bharat Private Security Standard

RRU and CAPSI plan New National Standard for Private Security Training

Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) and the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) have signed Memoranda of Understanding to develop a common system for training, testing and professional certification of private security personnel.

The proposed system, described by the organisations as the “Bharat Gold Standard”, is intended to set occupational skills and training requirements suited to India’s laws, working conditions and use of security technology.

RRU and CAPSI join hands on Private Security certification

The agreement was signed at the RRU campus in Gandhinagar. Vice Chancellor Prof. Bimal N. Patel met the CAPSI delegation during the programme. RRU was represented by Shri Nimesh Dave, Director, SICSM, Lt Col B. S. Rao, Coordinator, and other university officials. CAPSI Chairman Kunwar Vikram Singh led the industry delegation. It also included Secretary General Shri Mahesh Sharma, National Vice President Shri Anil Puri, President Shri V. V. Katti, SSSDC COO Col. A. K. Singh, CAPSI Gujarat Chapter President Dr Sheetal Nair, National Vice Presidents Dr R. K. Tyagi and Shri R. P. Chauhan, National Secretary (Reforms) Shri Sanjeev Bhardwaj, SAG Honorary Secretary Shri Anil Rai, CAPSI Gujarat General Secretary Shri Rajesh Pillai, CAPSI Gujarat Vice President Shri I. P. Singh, Deputy General Secretary Shri Rajesh Yadav and SAG Treasurer Shri R. K. Chaturvedi.

The proposed arrangement gives RRU’s training and academic resources a direct connection with the private security industry. CAPSI, which represents security companies and professionals, brings knowledge of the needs faced by employers and personnel working at sites across the country.

India already has a legal structure for private security agencies. The Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005 requires agencies to hold licences and provides for regulation of the sector. The Ministry of Home Affairs has also issued Central Model Rules and advisories covering the training of guards and supervisors.

In 2023, the Home Ministry issued a standard operating procedure for the recognition of training institutes that provide courses under the Act. The move addressed questions around how training institutes should be recognised by the controlling authorities in states and Union territories.

The RRU-CAPSI plan therefore enters a sector where training already has a statutory role. Its proposed difference is the attempt to connect training with practical assessment, certification and further career development.

RRU’s School of Private, Industrial and Corporate Security Management has been working in this area for several years. Its Centre for Corporate and Private Security Studies has offered courses for working security personnel, job seekers and people moving into corporate security. RRU records also show an earlier MoU with CAPSI in March 2021.

The university says its school has trained more than 2,500 people in areas including corporate and private security, command centre operations and dog handling. Its programmes include courses in corporate security management, security operations centres, corporate intelligence, investigations, surveillance and K9 training.

RRU’s wider training system has also worked with serving and retired defence and police personnel. Its published training records include programmes for security officers, former defence personnel and private security professionals.

Under the latest proposal, the Advanced Security Skills Training Centre is expected to support a broader group of learners. This includes new entrants, serving guards looking for promotion, former members of the armed forces and police entering civilian security, security agency managers and people working in risk, compliance and facility management.

The training facilities described for the centre include driving and firing simulators, OSINT and technology laboratories, drone training, K9 facilities, maritime-security resources, a Private Security Lab, moot-court facilities and equipment for physical training.

That mix reflects how security work has changed. Guards may now have to operate or respond to CCTV systems, electronic access controls, alarms, drones, digital communication systems and computer-based monitoring platforms. The proposed training model would therefore cover areas such as detecting an incident, reporting it, escalating the matter to the right authority and taking suitable first-response action.

The size of the industry gives the proposed programme a national dimension.

CAPSI puts India’s private security workforce at about 10 million people. Its members work at factories, banks and other financial institutions, offices, hospitals, schools and colleges, housing societies, logistics facilities and other locations used by the public. CAPSI itself describes the workforce it represents as around 10 million guards and women security personnel.

The exact size of the workforce can vary between estimates and depends on how agencies, contract workers and other personnel are counted. A 2025 industry publication, for example, referred to more than 90 lakh security personnel.

Even with differences in estimates, the sector is large enough that changes in training can affect millions of workers and the organisations that employ them.

CAPSI has also been working on technology-related issues. Its recent work has included discussions around artificial intelligence and cybersecurity in private security, while its 2025 Security Leadership Summit examined areas such as cybersecurity, fire and life safety, disaster preparedness, drones, forensics and AI.

The proposed RRU-CAPSI standard comes against this background. It seeks to give employers a way to identify specific skills rather than relying mainly on whether a person has completed a course.

The proposed system would cover entry-level duties as well as higher positions. A security worker could begin with basic site responsibilities and later move into supervisory work or specialised areas such as K9 operations, drone-related security, OSINT and technology-supported security.

The plan also includes training for trainers, executive programmes and continuing education.

For employers, formal assessment could provide a clearer record of what a worker has been trained to do. For workers, recognised certification could make it easier to demonstrate skills when seeking another role or moving into a specialised position.

The concept also connects with RRU’s existing work. The university has previously described its private security centre as a place for skilling, reskilling and upskilling personnel and for creating better employment opportunities. It has also worked with CAPSI and other industry bodies on training and certification.

The immediate task will be turning the proposed standard into detailed courses, assessment methods and certification rules. The announcement does not yet provide a final list of qualifications, the number of personnel to be trained, the cost of certification or a timetable for nationwide implementation.

Those details will matter because India already has central and state-level rules for private security training. State authorities operate under the PSARA framework, with individual states publishing their own training requirements and procedures. Haryana, for example, maintains separate information on recognised private security training institutes and guard and supervisor courses under its state rules.

The RRU-CAPSI initiative will therefore have to fit within this existing regulatory system while giving employers and workers a practical national benchmark.

For a sector employing millions of people, the test of the proposed “Bharat Gold Standard” will be its use on the ground: what workers learn, how their skills are tested, how certificates are recognised and whether those qualifications help security personnel take on greater responsibility.

The 25 September agreement sets that work in motion. The next stage will be developing the actual standards and the system for putting them into practice.