India along with China is all set to emerge as markets with highest growth potential in Asia-Pacific for IT spending in the Insurance sector. This fact is revealed in the latest report published by Springboard Research titled “IT in the Insurance Industry: Emerging Trends and Market Opportunities in Asia Pacific.”

As per the research IT spending in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan is estimated to reach $ 5 billion by 2011 as compared to $ 3.2 billion in 2007 at an compounded annual growth rate of 11.5 percent. The research places India among the top five markets for IT spending in Insurance sharing the honours with China, Korea, Taiwan and Australia which has a 30 percent market share and tops the list. These top 5 markets alone represent 86 percent of the total market for IT spend in Insurance sector.

IT deployments are observed in areas of claims management, policy administration, underwriting and sales with CRM maintaining its position as the most sought after deployment.

Interestingly the survey highlights that Insurance companies were influenced by the local IT vendors who have market share of 31 percent while MNCs have a market pie of 24 percent. As per the report, 35 percent of the companies had set their IT infrastructure in-house.

“After having relied on traditional ways of doing business for so long, insurance companies across the region are now embracing IT in a big way and are looking for new ways to reach out to their customers,” said Nilotpal Chakravarti, Senior Analyst of Vertical Markets at Springboard Research.