Cmc Spots Potential In Insurance

CMC Ltd expects the insurance sector to offer tremendous growth opportunities to its software development business.

Its software, General Insurance System (Genisys) is already in use by the country's top two insurance companies, New India Assurance and United India Insurance, and very likely to be taken up by Oriental India and National Insurance companies soon.

Genisys caters to the business requirements of the general insurance industry. CMC has developed it at its Insurance Competence Centre (ICC) in Calcutta, which has a team of 50-60 software developers with specific orientation in developing such softwares. "It's a 300 man year product on which we have spent nearly Rs 25 crore," said a top ranking CMC official.

The software costs Rs 10-12 crore, service inclusive. "Currently, there are just two users in the country, but there are more takers in the line. We expect this product to attract at least 3 new users each year for the next five years," said the CMC official.

Explaining the company's focus on the insurance sector, the CMC official said: "The insurance companies, on an average, spend just one per cent of their gross domestic premium income of Rs 25,000 crore, on IT-related products. With the opening of the insurance sector, IT-related spending of these companies is bound to grow, along with their premium income, which is likely to grow in excess of 100 per cent within five years."

CMC has also developed `InFAcS', a centralized integrated financial accounting software for the general insurance companies. It is also developing a software called WINGS which will be a net-based platform for general insurance businesses. Upgradation of Genisys is also on.

The insurance sector is attracting other major players like Satyam Computers, NIIT, Tata Infotech too.