Indian Insurers to spend Rs 11,700 cr on IT services in 2014

Indian insurance companies are expected to spend Rs 11,700 crore on IT products and services in 2014, about 5%higher than last year, driven by strong uptake of mobile phones and tablets, research firm Gartner said today.

They had spent an estimated Rs 11,115 crore last year on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

Of this year's spending, about Rs 410 crore is expected to be spent on mobile devices, up 35% from 2013.

"Gartner research shows that most Indian insurance CIOs view mobile enablement of applications and services as a very important component of their strategies to improve sales and channel effectiveness," Gartner Research Director Derry Finkeldey said.

This is especially important as insurers compete to reach agents and customers distributed across the country and outside of saturated urban markets, he added.