The National Association for Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will establish an independent body— Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO)—to push the IT industry to follow stringent data security laws.

SRO would act as watchdog for several leading, small and medium IT and ITES companies with the objective of portraying India as not only cost-effective but also a secured and credible destination for outsourcing.

"As the Indian industry is growing rapidly, securing client-sensitive data has become imperative. The self-regulatory organisation would ensure that proper security measures are being adhered to by the Indian companies and they would push for it so that more and more companies participate in it," said Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom.

Companies would need to enrol themselves into the organisation as members, for which there would be specific guidelines that the firms would have to meet. Nasscom is yet to decide on the eligibility criteria.

The companies would also be provided accreditation of adhering to security guidelines.

According to Karnik, clients, especially the overseas ones, would have more faith and feel comfortable to do business with accredited companies, which in turn would induce others to become members of the SRO.