NEW DELHI: Atlanta-based E-Bix.com, a solution provider in the insurance sector, has started its India operation. The operations in the country would be focussed on development work, supporting its global customers as well as offering low-end data processing, data conversion work and telesales to third party customers. The last two business areas would in fact be a new initiative of the company. The company intends to hire about 400 people within a short period of time to man these centers. However, the company would not focus on its core area of selling insurance solutions, as the market is yet to mature.
In fact, Ebix.com has already started its data conversion work from its center in Chennai. Its development center is also in place in Noida with 45 developers working on various in-house projects. The telesales team would begin with selling e-bix.com products and gradually move to products in the insurance sector. The company has approximately 312 KBPS of connectivity at the Noida center sufficient to handle voice calls currently.

Not revealing the exact details of investment, E-bix.com Chairman and CEO Robin Raina said that the investment would be to the tune of a couple of million dollars. He expects the Indian operations to be profitable within a year's time and would contribute about 15 percent to the company's global revenue by end of that period.

A firm believer in the virtues of the Net, the company's entire operations today are online. Since October 1999, Ebix.com re-invented its business operations by taking all its offerings online. Today a proud Raina says, "We are a completely virtual organization. There is no physical transaction anywhere in the organization. Our customers buy our products online and is delivered online."

The company has a VPN in place connecting its offices across the world. Most of the company's interaction takes place through video-conferencing including providing basic training and upgrading employee skills. Ebix.com is a Nasdaq listed company with a global turnover of $25 million. Besides, providing solutions to the insurance sector, the company has also launched an insurance exchange, which has more than 50 insurance companies listed. So, for the end customer looking for the right policy, the portal would do the calculation and present the user with the best bet. The company's earnings would be a fixed sum for any transaction through the exchange.

Speaking about the Indian insurance market Raina says, "The Indian insurance market will definitely mature within 5-7 years and the potential would be really huge. However, we shall start our marketing operations by next year so that we have a head start."