Business leaders in India are increasingly waking up to the threat of cyber-crime according to the third Lloyd?s Risk Index conducted by Ipsos.

Ipsos surveyed over 500 of the world?s most senior business leaders for the Risk Index, which shows that cyber risk has become a key concern among Indian businesses, soaring up the Index from the 23rd highest priority in 2011 to third place this year.

The findings show that Indian businesses are taking cyber security more seriously than their Asia-Pac counterparts and prioritising cyber risk five places higher than the Asia-Pac average of eighth place.

While prioritisation of cyber risk is high, business leaders feel less prepared to cope with the threat of an incident, rating cyber just 14th in terms of the risks they are most prepared to deal with.

The increased awareness of cyber risk comes at a time when research has shown the average annualised cost of cyber breaches has sharply increased. For 56 benchmarked organisations the average cost was US$8.9 million a year, up from US$8.4 million in 2011, and ranging from US$1.4 million to US$46 million per year, per company.

The Risk Index provides an in-depth picture of how Indian business leaders prioritise and prepare for major risks:

The price of raw materials is ranked the top risk in India, reflecting the importance of manufacturing to the country, and the rising cost of materials. It has climbed up the Risk Index ranking from sixth to first place in the last two years

Currency fluctuation has become a higher priority ? rising from fifth to second place due to potential impact on the prices of Indian exports

Loss of customers has significantly fallen down the priority list, moving from 2nd place in 2011 to 33rd place despite increasing concerns about the stability of the economy

The top 5 risk priorities for Indian business leaders are as follows:

2013 top five risks

2011 top five risks

Price of materials inputs  (up from 6th in 2011)

Inflation

Currency fluctuations (up from 5tht in 2011)

Loss of customers/cancelled orders

Cyber risk  (up from 23rd in 2011)

Talent and skills shortage

Inflation  (down from 1st in 2011)

Interest rate change

Fraud and corruption  (up from 7th in 2011)

Currency fluctuations