Indian insurers' IT spending to reach Rs 117 bn in 2014: Gartner

MUMBAI: To increase their reach, Indian insurers are focusing more on technology and companies spending on IT products and services are likely to increase by more than nine per cent in 2014 to reach Rs 11,700 crore, according to Gartner.

" Insurance spending on IT will increase more than nine per cent in 2014 to reach Rs 117 billion," the IT research and advisory firm said in a release.

The IT spending will increase by 16 per cent to Rs 10,700 crore this year from last year, Gartner said.

This forecast includes spending by insurers on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

IT services will not only be the biggest spending segment for the insurance industry in 2014, but it will also be the fastest growing at 16.2 per cent in 2014, it pointed out.

This growth rate is continuing to be driven by strong uptake of business process outsourcing ( BPO) at 24.1 per cent and consulting at 20.1 per cent.

Growth is also strong for enterprise software at 20 per cent, especially customer relationship management (CRM).

"Insurers in India are also looking to digitalise their processes - especially at the front end," Gartner principal analyst Derry Finkeldey said.