Data Breach Cost in India: Impact of AI in 2025

The focus keyword “Data Breach Cost” highlights a significant concern for businesses in India, with the average expense of a data breach elevating to ₹220 million in 2025. This marks a 13 percent rise from the previous year, according to IBM’s latest Cost of a Data Breach Report. The findings indicate that while companies are quickly embracing AI, the measures for security and governance are not keeping up, making them appealing targets for cybercriminals.

Insights from IBM’s Report on Data Breach Cost

The report represents the inaugural examination by IBM of security, governance, and access controls specifically related to AI. It has uncovered that only 37 percent of Indian organisations have properly established AI access controls, while almost 60 percent either do not possess AI governance policies or are in the process of formulating them.

The Urgent Need for AI Governance

According to Viswanath Ramaswamy, Vice President of Technology at IBM India & South Asia, the rapid adoption of AI in India offers substantial opportunities but also presents new and intricate cyber threats. The report indicates a critical gap; although AI is being integrated swiftly into business operations, security and governance are lagging. The lack of access controls and governance tools regarding AI is not merely a technical issue but a strategic weakness. It is essential for CISOs to act promptly, ensuring that trust, transparency, and governance are embedded into AI systems by design.

Key Findings on Data Breach Cost in India

• AI Governance: Nearly 60 percent of the organisations that faced breaches either lacked a governance policy or were in the process of developing one; only 34 percent of those with policies utilized AI governance technology.
• Shadow AI: Unauthorised AI applications ranked among the top three breach cost contributors, adding ₹17.9 million on average. Merely 42 percent implemented measures to manage or detect such usage.
• Breach Costs: The average cost of a data breach escalated to ₹220 million, an increase from ₹195 million in 2024.
• Attack Vectors: Phishing (18 percent), compromise of third-party vendors (17 percent), and vulnerability exploitation (13 percent) were highlighted as the most common causes of breaches.
• Breach Lifecycle: The average duration to identify and mitigate breaches reduced to 263 days, 15 days quicker than last year.
• Sector Impact: Research was identified as the most affected sector, averaging ₹289 million per breach, followed closely by transportation at ₹288 million and industrial at ₹264 million.
• Security AI: The implementation of AI and automation significantly reduced breach costs by more than half; however, 73 percent of the organisations reported limited or no adoption of these technologies.

The report is grounded in the analysis of nearly 6,500 breaches over two decades, revealing that the present threat landscape is predominantly digital. The complexity is further intensified by AI-driven attacks and the unregulated use of AI technologies.