By Sai Shankar – Founder QClairvoyance Quantum Labs Pvt. Ltd
Imagine leaving your office at the end of the day, locking the door and heading home. You know the door is secure today. But what if someone could copy that lock right now and build a key that works a few years from today? That is not a hypothetical. That is the situation Indian enterprises are in.
The encryption and digital signatures protecting National and International bank transactions, a corporate contract or a customer’s personal information may be secure against today’s computers. But quantum computers are expected to change that. Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, which operate fundamentally differently from the bits used by conventional computers.
By exploiting phenomena such as superposition and entanglement, quantum systems can approach and solve certain computational problems in fundamentally different ways.
Much of today’s digital security relies on mathematical problems that are extremely difficult for classical computers to solve. Public-key cryptography, in particular, underpins technologies used across digital communications, authentication and secure transactions.
A sufficiently capable quantum computer (FTQC: Fully Tolerant Quantum Computers) running algorithms such as Shor’s and Grover’s algorithms could dramatically reduce the difficulty of solving some of these mathematical problems. In simple terms, a digital lock that is extremely difficult to break with today’s computing systems could become significantly easier to attack with tomorrow’s Quantum machines.
And the data being created today may need to stay protected long after those systems arrive. That is why businesses need to start thinking about this now, not when the threat is already visible.
The most immediate concern is something called “harvest now, decrypt later.” An attacker collects encrypted information today and stores it. They cannot read it now, but with advent of Quantum Computers in the future , stored encrypted data can be decrypted. For a business, this means sensitive information that looks protected today may not stay protected forever. A bank’s customer records. A hospital’s patient files. A law firm’s confidential agreements. A company’s intellectual property. Much of this information has value well beyond the day it was created. That is what makes quantum security a current business concern, not a future one.
The issue is therefore not simply whether a quantum computer exists today. It is whether the information being protected today needs to remain secure five, ten , twenty or fifty years from now.
To understand what is at stake, consider the scale of India’s digital economy. Over 17 billion UPI transactions were processed in a single month in 2024. Platforms such as DigiLocker hold the identity documents of hundreds of millions of citizens. Aadhaar is linked to everything from banking to healthcare. All of it depends on secure digital systems, and all of it sits on encryption that quantum computing could eventually challenge and break them in days for which classical computers will take million years to solve.
India’s own Department of Science and Technology task force has flagged this as urgent, pointing to active threats where adversaries may already be collecting encrypted data for future use. Their estimates suggest India will need over Rs 5,000 crore in investment just for infrastructure upgrades, interoperability improvements and skilled manpower to manage this transition.
For sectors such as banking, healthcare, defence, telecommunications and legal services, where sensitive data has a long shelf life, the question is not whether quantum computers can break encryption tomorrow. The question is whether information protected today will still be safe five, ten or twenty years from now.
India is not standing still. The government has committed Rs 6,003.65 crore under the National Quantum Mission for 2023 to 2031, covering quantum computing, communications, sensing and materials. International standards bodies such as NIST have released Post Quantum Cryptography standards. Indian companies are already building quantum secure communication systems. The policy groundwork is being laid, and that is encouraging.
But the next step is not simply to develop quantum computers. It is to prepare the security systems around today’s digital infrastructure for a quantum future.
This is where Post-Quantum Cryptography, or PQC, becomes important. PQC focuses on cryptographic algorithms that can operate on conventional computers and networks while being designed to withstand attacks from both classical and future quantum computers.
For enterprises, this means quantum readiness does not require replacing existing infrastructure with security that are based on Quantum Physics. It means beginning the transition toward quantum-resistant cryptographic systems within the infrastructure they already operate.
But most of India’s sensitive data sits inside private enterprises, and the responsibility for migration cannot be passed on to anyone else.
The good news is that action does not require waiting for quantum computers to arrive. It starts with something far simpler. Organisations need to map where Quantum Vulnerable encryption and digital signatures are being used across their applications, databases, cloud systems and third party platforms, and understand what is most sensitive and how long it needs to remain protected. Not all data carries the same risk, and that distinction matters. A routine internal document and a long term customer record are not the same thing.
The focus should go first to data that holds value years into the future. Enterprises should also begin identifying where vulnerable public-key cryptography is embedded across their technology stack and assessing how easily those cryptographic systems can be replaced. This is where crypto-agility becomes critical. A quantum-ready organisation needs the ability to change cryptographic algorithms, keys and protocols without rebuilding its entire application or digital infrastructure.
From there, enterprises can begin implementing newer encryption standards designed to withstand quantum attacks. These do not need to be adopted all at once. They can be tested and introduced as part of regular technology upgrades, without treating this as a separate emergency project. It is also worth looking beyond internal systems, because security does not stop at your own infrastructure. Cloud providers, software vendors and technology partners are all part of the chain, and understanding whether they have quantum safe plans in place is just as important. Most importantly, this conversation needs to move beyond IT teams and into boardrooms, because at its core this is about protecting customer trust, ensuring business continuity and making sure today’s technology investments remain relevant as the world around them changes.
Recent developments make this transition more concrete. NIST has finalized three major post-quantum cryptography standards for key establishment and digital signatures, giving enterprises practical algorithms to test and begin adopting now rather than waiting for quantum computers to arrive.
Cryptographic visibility and agility are equally important.. A cryptographic inventory can map algorithms, certificates, keys, protocols, applications and data flows, while crypto-agility allows those mechanisms to be changed without disrupting critical services. For Indian enterprises, combining both can make quantum readiness a phased resilience programme built into technology upgrades, vendor assessments and long-term planning.
Quantum readiness is therefore not only a technology decision. It is becoming a long-term business resilience decision.
India has built one of the largest digital ecosystems in the world in a remarkably short time. Protecting that ecosystem means security has to grow with the technology around it. Enterprises that start now will have the time and space to plan properly. Those that wait may find themselves rushing a transition that should have begun years earlier. The lock is still holding today. But the tools capable of challenging that lock are evolving. The time to upgrade it is now, not when someone is already at the door.