Fin Sector To Account For 25% Of Local It Revenues: Nasscom

Information technology (IT) in the banking, financial and insurance sector would account for over 25 per cent of the domestic IT industry's revenues by 2005 according to Nasscom, the apex industry body of software and services companies in India.

Speaking at the National IT conference for banks, financial services and insurance industry in Mumbai, Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom said, "IT implementation in public sector banks over the past two years has been impressive with the number of fully computerised branches increasing from 5514 in September 2000 to 11, 578 in March 2002."

"Public sector banks in co-operation with the Indian IT industry now need to equip themselves for the next phase of introducing the benefits of IT and in providing centralised banking solutions," he added.

The conference highlighted the need for Indian software and services companies to adopt emerging technologies like data mining and wireless devices to take advantage of the opportunities in the domestic banking and financial services (BFSI) sector.

According to Nasscom, companies catering to the international BFSI sector currently contribute to 22 per cent of India's software and services exports.

"It is now time that these companies focus and extend their expertise in tapping the huge opportunity that exists in the domestic market," said Karnik.

"The BFSI segment also offers great potential for the SME sector for developing customised financial products and services," he added.

The conference also highlighted the need for IT adoption in the sector to provide real time availability of transaction processing through multiple channels and to ensure security and safety of funds.

It also endeavoured to encourage the use of the internet to provide access for online bill payments, funds transfers and e-statements in addition to encouraging wireless mobile banking and e-commerce. Nasscom would also work in association with various regulatory and industry bodies such as the IBA to initiate a survey on best practises of IT implementation within India and overseas.