₹25.5 Crore in 2026, a 15.9% Jump From ₹22 Crore Last Year, According to IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report Released Monday

The report found nearly 39,500 records compromised per incident, up from 38,200 in 2025. AI-generated attacks accounted for 26% of malicious breaches in India, underscoring AI's role in making cyberattacks faster and more scalable. Gaurav Agarwal, Vice President of Technology at IBM India & South Asia, said India's rapid AI adoption is fueling innovation but also enabling evolving cyber threats, and stressed that organizations using AI with strong governance were better equipped to fend off attacks. He urged embedding agentic AI across the full security lifecycle, from detection to remediation, as a strategic imperative.

Only 32% of Indian organizations have extensively deployed AI and security automation, while 36% have limited adoption and 32% none. Firms without AI and automation faced average breach costs of ₹31.6 crore, versus ₹21.3 crore for those with extensive AI use. Phishing, including voice and SMS variants, remained the top initial attack vector at 19% of breaches, followed by drive-by and supply chain compromises.

Financial services saw the highest average breach cost at ₹40.9 crore, followed by technology at ₹35.7 crore and communications at ₹34.5 crore. Offensive security measures like red teaming and penetration testing cut costs by an average of ₹2.47 crore. Nearly 73% of surveyed organizations plan to boost security investments after a breach, prioritizing incident response, threat detection, identity management, AI security, and employee awareness.