ERGO, a global insurance major, has set up a captive technology hub in India to develop technology solutions in the insurance space for the entire 18-billion euro ERGO Group, which operates in about 30 countries. 

The captive unit — ERGO Technology & Services Pvt Ltd (ETS) — is the third technology hub for ERGO Group after Germany (onshore) and Poland (nearshore) and now offshore (India).

ETS is part of the global structure of the ERGO Technology & Services Management (ET&SM) holding, the main outsourcing provider of IT for the ERGO Group. 

Speaking to BusinessLine, Mehmood Mansoori, MD & CEO, ETS said the ET&SM hubs aim to build capabilities that support the group’s digital growth and further push its digital agenda.

“In the last five to six years there has been a big push to completely modernise the entire ERGO ecosystem. We are working on transforming ERGO into a heavily digital group by 2025. This initiative to set up a captive in India will help achieve this aim,” Mansoori said. 

Hiring plans

Mansoori also said that ETS aims to hire about 170 employees by the end of this year and have a professional base of about 400 persons by the end of next year.

“Captive is not a new concept. We are looking to have the agility of a start-up and create the work environment and culture where ideas are encouraged . We want to give freedom and motivation to young talent to contribute to the larger ecosystem of technology for the group”, he said. 

ERGO Group has been in India since 2008 when it launched a joint venture HDFC ERGO in partnership with HDFC Group.

Since then HDFC ERGO has made rapid strides to grow into among the top four general insurers in the country. 

Mansoori also highlighted that in the last 5-7 years in India, the agenda of digital has been pushed “very very fast” in insurance, BFSI and other industries.

“Our captive will look to create a structure of collaboration between the three technology hubs and use the combined strengths to push the digital agenda of the group,” he said. 

Role of hubs

He further said that the overall objective will be to leverage the strength of a specific unit (technology hub) in that country and come up with a common solution framework. 

“How innovation at one place can be taken to a global standard for any entity in the group to follow? That is the overall agenda. Customers needs and behaviour worldwide is changing and so our solutions should also change in tune with the times,” Mansoori said. 

He also said that the cost advantage that India provides is not the primary factor for setting up the captive here although it is one of the important reasons.