Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an All-India Financial Institution (AIFI) operating in India and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an Automobile or any Manufacturing sector public/private organization in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of five years in India.
• Applicant should have the manufacturing plants/facilities based in India.
• The products manufactured by the applicant should be consumed at least in the Indian market.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a banking organization operating in India and should be a Private Sector Bank or Public Sector Banks or Payments Banks (PB) as declared by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a capital market organization registered in India, providing services such as buying/selling of stocks, bonds, currencies, and other financial assets, regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a registered organization in India providing aggregator/platform services for delivery, E-commerce, online shopping etc.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been providing services in India for a minimum of one year.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an organization operating in India providing core Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) or Digital Economy services. These may include government entities, public sector organizations, private sector organizations, technology/service providers, digital platforms, financial institutions, and other entities that develop, operate, enable or provide services integral to Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) or the digital economy.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.
• Applicants must be directly involved in providing core DPI/Digital Economy services as part of their primary business function.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations which act as indirect enablers, suppliers, or service providers supporting DPI/Digital Economy organizations (and not providing core DPI services themselves) are not eligible in this category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an energy sector organization operating in India (Petroleum, Oil & Gas, Power - Coal, Nuclear, Renewable sources of energy [Hydro, Solar, wind, etc.]), and directly working in generation, transmission, or distribution of energy.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations which may act as the supplier for the organizations working in this sector or may indirectly work to enable the organizations working in this sector are not eligible in this category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a Global Capability Centre operating in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an insurance organization (Private or Public Sector) operating in India, providing insurance services and registered with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI).
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations which are not providing insurance policies and are only supporting the organizations that provide insurance policies are not eligible.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an organization from IT-ITeS sector operating in India.
• Applicant would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) as declared by RBI and should be operating in India.
• Applicant must be a Small Finance Bank (SFB)/ Regional Rural Bank (RRB)/ Local Area Bank (LAB)/ State Cooperative Banks (StCBs)/ District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) declared by RBI/ NABARD and should be operating in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a Pharma or Healthcare organization operating in India including pharmaceutical manufacturers, healthcare service providers, hospitals, diagnostic centres, or related pharma/healthcare entities, and registered with relevant regulatory authorities.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.
• Applicant must be directly involved in providing core pharma or healthcare services as part of their primary business function.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations which act as suppliers, distributors, or indirect enablers to pharma/healthcare organizations (and not providing core pharma or healthcare services themselves) are not eligible in this category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a telecom organization operating in India providing telecom services and/or telecom infrastructure (including telecom service providers, telecom infrastructure providers, tower companies, fiber backbone operators, and related telecom infrastructure entities) and registered with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.
• Applicants must be directly involved in providing core telecom services or telecom infrastructure as part of their primary business function.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations which act as suppliers or indirect enablers to telecom organizations (and not providing core telecom services or infrastructure themselves) are not eligible in this category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Individual must have been performing leadership roles (Fulltime) in security for an organization as a CISO, CSO, or Security head or equivalent, demonstrating significant contribution to organizational security strategy and decision-making as part of the leadership/management team.
• Individuals nominating for ‘Privacy Leader of the Year - Men’ category cannot nominate in this category.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

Eligibility Criteria

• Women practitioners in cyber security working for an organization as a CISO/ Security Specialist/CSO/ VP/ Director/ Security head or equivalent.
• Individuals nominating for ‘Privacy Leader of the Year - Women’ category cannot nominate in this category.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

Eligibility Criteria

• Individual must be in a leadership role in privacy.
• Individual should be from private or public sector in India.
• Individual for whom privacy management comprises at least 25% of his role.
• Individuals nominating for ‘Security Leader of the Year - Men’ category cannot nominate in this category.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

Eligibility Criteria

• Individual must be in a leadership role in privacy.
• Individual should be from private or public sector in India.
• Individual for whom privacy management comprises at least 25% of her role.
• Individuals nominating for ‘Security Leader of the Year - Women’ category cannot nominate in this category.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a cyber security services organization operating in India and providing cyber security services to organizations primarily in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.
• Applicant must have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Applicants with security products as a service are not eligible to apply to this category as separate category is provided for the same.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an organization or entity that handles and processes personal data of individuals or entities as a part of its core services.
• Applicant should have been operating for a minimum of one year in India.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more nominations.

*NOTE – Best Privacy Practices by Data Processors and Best Privacy Practices by Data Fiduciaries are merged into a single category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a recognized university/college/institute and should have been offering:
  • Cyber security/ information security course/degree approved/accredited by any central/state/deemed university in India.
  • Involved in research and development of cyber security technologies in India.
• The course/degree/cyber security research program should be functional for at least two years.
• Application would be eligible for evaluation only if this award category receives three or more different nominations.

Not Eligible for this Category

• Organizations providing cyber security training or certifications are not eligible.
• Private organizations involved in R&D of cyber security technologies are not eligible.

Eligibility Criteria

• Organization which has developed Information Security Product(s) can apply.
• Organization should be incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India.
• Product (mentioned in the nomination form) should be designed and developed in India.
• IPR/Patents, if any, should be owned by the Indian entity.
• An organization that has won this award (DSCI) earlier is not eligible to apply.
• An organization nominating any product for ‘DSCI Innovation Box’ category in this year cannot nominate in this category.

Eligibility Criteria

• Innovative Security/Privacy Products which should not have violated/breached/copied any idea/concept/product already copyright or patent can be nominated.
• Organization should be incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India.
• Organization nominating in Innovation Box should have an annual turnover not exceeding Rs. 25 crores for any of the financial years since its incorporation.
• Organization nominating in Innovation Box should be in existence and should have operations for less than five years from the Date - 30 August 2026.
• The product should have been designed and developed in India.
• For the nominated products if there is any IPR/Patents registered, it should be owned by the Indian entity.
• An organization that has won this award earlier is not eligible to apply.

Eligibility Criteria

• Each state police organization/investigation agency can send a maximum of five entries (cases). Self-nominations are also accepted provided they are endorsed and sent through the proper channel of the state police/ investigation agency thereby ensuring that not more than five entries are received from a state/agency.
• Only one officer should be nominated for each nomination, i.e., a state /investigation agency can nominate only 5 officers for five different cases.
• Investigation done by any state police organization in the country, including the city police, National Investigation Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, etc. will be considered.
• Cases should be of importance or sensitive nature:
  • Cases which have the potential to impact the usage of Information Technology strategically by central & state governments, industry/industries, or services availed by citizens (including impact on the adoption of e-governance applications/ E-Commerce/social media by Governments/Organisations/citizens).
  • or those which have caused public concern / created curiosity amongst the common citizen(s).
• The investigating team should have made use of electronic and technology-based tools to solve the case.
• Cases investigated & finalized without invoking IT Act, 2000 (Amended 2008) will NOT be considered for the award evaluation process.
• Cases in which investigation is completed, and Final Report is submitted to the court or those closed for other reasons, will be considered, irrespective of the year of registration. However, due weightage will be given for speedy and expeditious investigation. Also, the cases that were investigated effectively within the limits of available resources. Cases ended up with Conviction during the above period may also be nominated.
• No under-investigation cases should be sent for nomination.
• Since investigation is a team effort, organizations must nominate one person representing the team (of and above the rank of Police Inspector), who has participated in the investigation, and who has contributed critically and substantially to the success of the investigation. The entry should clearly bring out the role played by the officer nominated. Officers associated with the investigation in a supervisory or advisory capacity should not be nominated for the Award.
• The winner of the India Cyber Cop of the Year 2025 Award will not be eligible for this year’s award. All other past participants including finalists may participate this year.

Eligibility Criteria

• The nomination must only be sent by State / UT Police (eg., Karnataka Police, Haryana Police, Chandigarh Police, etc.) or City Commissionerate (eg., Pune police, Kolkata Police) or Investigation/intelligence Agencies working under State/central government (eg., CBI, NIA, Income tax department, etc.) or state/central police training academies.
• The winner of the Excellence in Capacity Building of Law Enforcement Agencies 2025 Award will not be eligible for this year’s award. All other past participants including finalists may participate this year.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any Academia/University/Institution/College include affiliation with recognized higher education accreditation bodies in India, such as NAAC, NBA, BCI, MCI, DCI, PCI, UGC, AICTE and other autonomous bodies under the Government of India (IIT, NIT etc.,).
• Any Academia/University/Institution/College situated in India that offers special courses & organizes programs on Cybercrimes, Cyber Law & Digital Forensics.
• The winner of the Excellence in Capacity Building in Cybercrimes, Cyber Laws & Digital Forensics by Academia 2025 Award will not be eligible for this year’s award. All other past participants including finalists may participate this year.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any Government forensic laboratory providing digital forensics services to law enforcement and other institutions. The laboratory should be recognized under the a. Indian Evidence Act & CrPC or b. Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and BNSS 2023 or c. Information Technology, 2000.
• The winner of the Award for Pioneering Digital Forensics Capabilities by Government Institutions 2025 will not be eligible for this year’s award. All other past participants including finalists may participate this year.

Corresponding eligibility criteria are mentioned in each category. Applicants are requested to carefully read the eligibility criteria before filling the application for respective category.

Yes, an organization or an individual can send their nominations for this year as well even if participated or won in the previous years. (Except explicitly mention in the particular eligibility criteria)

Yes, the categories have been revised this year. Few categories have been eliminated, few remain same, and few others have been newly introduced. We recommend that you take a few minutes to explore all the categories and their eligibility criteria for this year to understand in which category you may apply.

Applying for all the categories in the corporate segment are online.

Your nomination will be discarded and the details which were provided during registration and downloading of the form would be erased from the database after the submission window is closed. Request you to please submit your filled nomination forms before the last date.

In the downloaded nomination forms, there is a provision for attaching the required documents. Request you to please use the space provided in nomination form itself and don’t attach supporting artefacts during or on the submission link.

Guidelines for attaching the documents, wherever required, is mentioned at the same place. Please read the guidelines carefully before attaching and/or uploading the documents.

We request the respondents to limit their responses to the prescribed word limit. Keeping the answers succinct makes it easier for the evaluators. The evaluators reserve the right to discard any information that stretches beyond word limit.

There would be both objective as well as subjective questions.

No question in the form is mandatory to answer. The nominator has full right and choice to answer or skip any of the questions. Though, during evaluation one can lose on some points if their competitor has given the answer to a particular question and they have not! Some questions in the nomination forms might not carry any weightage and could be for informational purpose only.

The awards are open for all organizations and individuals who are eligible to participate as per the eligibility criteria mentioned for each category. Its not necessary for the Organizations applying for the Awards in the corporate segment to be a DSCI Corporate Member. Contact awards team at awards@dsci.in for more details.

Kindly note that there is no fee to apply for any of the Award categories.

Each award category has different parameters for evaluation. These parameters will be used to shortlist the finalist and ultimately, to decide the winner. These parameters have been decided using prior experience and consultation. However, these will not be made public.

Nomination forms for corporate segment can only be submitted online on the submission link provided on DSCI website, whereas for LEA segment one will need to submit the duly filled nomination form through e-mail to awards@dsci.in in either word or pdf format or send hard copies to DSCI office address.

Resubmitting your nomination form is not suggested as if duplicate nomination forms with the same name are received, the form submitted first will be considered for evaluation. It is recommended that organizations separately send updated information and artefacts via email to DSCI at awards@dsci.in, while referring the nominations submitted earlier, or first get their wrong/incomplete submitted nomination form deleted from the database by informing through email at awards@dsci.in and then resubmit their updated nomination form. Individuals may resubmit their completely filled nomination forms till the last date.

Consolidation of all the nomination forms and other information received from various organizations will be done by DSCI Excellence Awards Process partner (PwC). Both DSCI and PwC shall take due care that confidential information is shared only with the designated stakeholders for evaluation purposes only.

Nomination pre-screening will be done by DSCI and PwC to shortlist the finalists in each category after a due diligence. All the shortlisted nominations’ cases would be presented by DSCI and PwC to Jury in a Jury briefing meeting, to justify their shortlisting. An eminent jury panel will then decide the winners in each category.

All the shortlisted organizations and individuals will be contacted and informed that their entries got shortlisted; relevant details would be shared thereof.

Winners will be announced at Nasscom-DSCI Annual Information Security Summit 2026 on 11th December, 2026. All the shortlisted nominations will be sent an invite to represent their organization / represent themselves at the Awards Ceremony.