Taking its position in the outsourcing space in the global industry ahead, Indian companies are looking at the very critical Actuarial Process Outsourcing (APO) area. And here, the industry is expected to ramp up 100% by the end of 2008. As opposed to tactical outsourcing, the APO is highly knowledge intensive work involving valuations and analytical work and is, therefore, not largely driven by the volume of people. Actuaries, form the third and the most pecialised pillar of the insurance business much ahead of fund management and sales, where smart data crunching and detailed analysis sets the very foundation for undertaking risk coverage.
Sanjiv Kapur, senior vice president and head, BPO, Patni, says, ?Actuarial services is a key business focus area for us and we plan to ramp up our actuarial practice by 100% by end of this year. I see huge potential and growth in this business over the next three to four years. Currently, the US and Europe are the major target geographies for us. ?Various sources of market research predict the KPO industry to be worth anywhere between $10 billion to $17 billion by the year 2010, he adds.
Mohit Thukral, senior vice-president and business leader, Genpact, says, ?The industry is growing at a fast pace and we see a healthy pipeline coming three to four years down the line. We are expecting a 100% growth in the coming year.?
Milan sheth, partner-outsourcing advisory, Ernst & Young, says, ?Given the scale of work we have in India , a 100% ramp up of the business is a healthy sign. Though Europe and UK have used Indian outsourcing services, we have not seen much of high end work coming from the US in this vertical, since American clients are a bit conservative and their processes are quite disintegrated.? But two-three years down the line, we will see more work coming in from the US as they have started opening up, he adds.