The DPDP Act is active. Global clients are running real vendor audits now – not the box-ticking kind. And ransomware groups have quietly decided mid-sized Indian companies are the easiest targets around. If your governance, risk and compliance process still means updating a Word doc once a year, that’s a serious problem. Here’s what’s broken and what to fix.
What GRC Actually Is?
Three Functions. One Programme.
Governance: who’s accountable for what decisions.
Risk: identifying threats to the business before they hit.
Compliance: meeting your regulatory and contractual obligations.
Simple enough on paper. In practice, most Indian companies have all three running in separate silos. Governance sits with the CEO. Risk is an IT spreadsheet. Compliance is a legal problem before an audit.
Nobody talks. Nothing connects. And that’s exactly why companies with full teams still fail client audits.
What’s Different About 2026?
The DPDP Act Has Teeth Now
For years, businesses watched the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and waited. That window is closed.
If you collect, store, or process personal data of Indian citizens and almost every business does – you have live obligations. Consent mechanisms. Data minimisation requirements. Breach reporting timelines. Grievance redressal processes.
Fintech, healthcare, HR platforms, e-commerce – highest risk, least prepared. The fines aren’t symbolic.
First thing to do? Map your data flows. Not next quarter. Now.
Clients Want Proof, Not Promises
Three years ago, a vendor security questionnaire meant ticking boxes and sending it back. That’s done.
US enterprise clients want SOC 2 Type II. European clients ask for documented GDPR compliance. Some won’t even begin a pilot without ISO 27001.
Indian SaaS and IT companies are losing contracts mid-cycle. Not because the product wasn’t good. Because the compliance documentation didn’t exist. That’s entirely fixable but only if you start before the RFP arrives.
Mid-Sized Companies Are Now the Primary Target
Big enterprises hardened their defences. The attackers moved on.
Mid-market Indian businesses – real customer data, real revenue, weak access controls, no MFA, inconsistent patching – are now squarely in the crosshairs. Ransomware groups do reconnaissance before they strike. They know what a soft target looks like.
Underinvesting in cyber security is a choice. Just make sure it’s a conscious one.
Where Governance, Risk and Compliance Breaks Down in Indian Businesses?
The Risk Assessment in the Folder Nobody Opens
Most companies have done a risk assessment at some point. It exists. It’s filed somewhere.
It was also written when the company was smaller, running different systems, with a different vendor list. A risk register that doesn’t reflect today’s business tells you nothing useful.
It needs a full review at least once a year. And again after any major change – new vendor, cloud move, new product, acquisition. If yours is older than 18 months, assume it’s wrong.
The Audit Sprint That Solves Nothing
Client audit announced. Three-week panic. Policies written from scratch. Evidence scraped together. Everyone was exhausted.
It passes – barely. Then nothing changes. Controls drift. The same sprint happens next year.
This pattern is expensive and it gives a false sense of security. Passing an audit in a sprint doesn’t mean your controls are working. It means you survived the audit.
Real compliance runs all year. Policies on a review schedule. Controls monitored continuously. Teams who know what they’re responsible for without being told every autumn.
No Internal Audit Because Budget
Internal audits are usually the first cut when money gets tight. It’s understandable. It’s also the wrong call.
They catch problems before external auditors or clients do. They tell leadership what’s actually happening with controls, not what the policy says should be happening. That’s a different thing entirely.
You don’t need a full internal audit department. A schedule – quarterly or twice a year and someone independent enough to report findings honestly. That’s the whole model.
Four Compliance Programmes Running in Parallel
ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SOC 2, DPDP – running these as four separate workstreams with four sets of documentation and four evidence collections is one of the most common and expensive mistakes we see.
These frameworks overlap heavily. One solid access control policy satisfies requirements across all four. A well-written incident response procedure maps from SOC 2 to ISO 27001 almost completely.
Build a single control library. Map each framework’s requirements to it. Audit prep time drops. Duplication disappears.
Compliance Buried in IT, Invisible to Leadership
When GRC lives only in IT, leadership treats it as an IT problem. Budgets shrink. Security doesn’t get a seat at the table when big decisions are made.
Connect compliance risks to business outcomes and that changes fast. A data breach is a revenue risk. A failed certification is a sales risk. A DPDP penalty is a legal and financial risk.
Frame it right and the CFO or COO starts paying attention. Keep it in IT and nothing changes.
What Specialist Governance, Risk and Compliance Firms in India Offer?
Building a full in-house compliance function isn’t realistic for most mid-sized businesses. A qualified CISO, compliance manager, and internal auditor – that’s a significant hire across the board.
Specialist cyber security companies in India such as Redkite Network now offer both sides: technical work like penetration testing and vulnerability management, and GRC services like certification readiness, gap assessments, and policy development.
For the right organisation, this model covers more ground than an in-house hire, at a lower cost. The key is finding a partner who knows Indian regulations like DPDP alongside global frameworks and who stays involved after the certification, not just until it arrives.
A certificate without ongoing maintenance is just scheduled non-compliance.
Where to Start?
A gap assessment gives you an honest picture of where you stand – against the specific frameworks that apply to your business.
From there, you build: policies, controls, an audit cycle, and the governance structure that keeps it running.
Redkite Network has worked with Indian businesses across sectors to build governance risk and compliance programmes that hold up under real client scrutiny and regulatory review. If you’d rather find your gaps before someone else does, that’s worth a conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is governance, risk and compliance (GRC)?
Ans. GRC is a structured way to manage business accountability, risk, and regulatory obligations together. Governance decides who makes decisions. Risk management identifies what could go wrong. Compliance ensures legal and contractual obligations are met. When all three work together, businesses face fewer costly surprises and hold up better under client and regulatory scrutiny.
Q2. Which Indian businesses need GRC compliance in 2026?
Ans. Any business processing personal data of Indian citizens falls under the DPDP Act. Fintech and banking companies must meet RBI guidelines. IT and SaaS firms serving US clients need SOC 2; European clients require GDPR compliance documentation. Card payment processors need PCI DSS. In practice, most mid-sized Indian businesses operating in regulated sectors or serving global clients need a working GRC programme.
Q3. What’s the difference between GRC and cybersecurity?
Ans. Cybersecurity is technical – it protects systems and data from attacks. GRC is the management layer above it. It determines which risks get prioritised, which regulations apply, how decisions are made, and whether controls are actually working. One without the other is incomplete. GRC without cybersecurity has no technical foundation. Cybersecurity without GRC has no governance.
Q4. How long does GRC implementation take in India?
Ans. A Gap assessment typically takes 1 week. Documentation and Implementation takes 2 to 3 months depending on the frameworkA gap assessment typically takes two to four weeks. Implementing policies, controls, and documentation takes three to nine months, depending on the framework and your starting baseline. ISO 27001 certification for a mid-sized organisation usually takes four to six months from a reasonable starting point. Businesses with no existing policies in place should budget for longer.
Q5. Which compliance certifications matter most for Indian cyber security companies in 2026?
Ans.
- ISO 27001: global benchmark for information security, relevant across sectors
- SOC 2: required for IT/SaaS companies with US enterprise clients
- GDPR compliance: mandatory for handling EU personal data
- DPDP compliance: domestic baseline for all Indian businesses handling personal data
- PCI DSS: required for any business processing card payments
Start with whatever your clients or regulators are asking for first.
Q6. What does non-compliance cost?
Ans. Directly: regulatory fines, legal fees, breach remediation costs. Indirectly: lost contracts, failed vendor audits, reputational damage – often far larger. GDPR fines have reached millions of euros. India’s DPDP penalties are structured and enforceable. Beyond fines, businesses without GRC take longer to recover from incidents and consistently struggle to pass client due diligence. The cost of building the programme is almost always lower than the cost of not having one.
