Indian insurance firms are expected to spend Rs 117 billion on IT products and services in 2014, a 5% more over 2013, according to research firm Gartner. This forecast includes spending by insurers on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.
Insurers in India are on pace to spend Rs 4.1 billion on mobile devices in 2014, a rise of 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,” said Derry Finkeldey, Research Director, Gartner. “This is especially important as insurers compete to reach agents and customers distributed across the country and outside of saturated urban markets.”
Overall mobile device market in India is showing strong growth. For example, the nascent tablet market in India is projected to grow 160% in 2014. As the tablet market breaks through the Rs 200 million mark this year, growth is expected to be in the moderate double-digits range.
The much larger Rs3.8 billion market for other mobile devices will grow 24 % in 2014, with revenue of Rs926 million. While the Rs11 billion mobile network services market is growing, the Rs12.8 billion fixed network segment is on a decline, and will be overtaken in size by mobile spending by 2016.