India to conduct IT security audit

India's IT industry body, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), is preparing a security audit of its 860 member companies to ensure that the flow of outsourcing work from the UK and US isn't halted by fears over privacy and data protection.

The news follows an announcement that India's software industry is now the country's single biggest source of export revenue, accounting for revenues of nearly $13bn (£7bn).

However, last week's move by Lloyds TSB's group union, LTU, to take legal action against the bank for breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA), is just one of a number of things sparking fears in India of a potential slowdown in outsourcing growth.

For India to continue evolving as a global IT heavyweight, it has to ensure that it has an adequate legal framework for data security and privacy, says Nasscom.

Although most of the big Indian IT companies comply with UK data protection rules, such as the BS 7799 standard, no equivalent laws exist in India.