Mumbai-based TCS will pay parent insurance group The Phoenix Companies Inc an undisclosed sum to acquire Bangalore, India-based PGS, which provides a range of IT and BPO services for the insurance industry from a 6.6 acre campus in Bangalore where it employs some 400 people.
PGS provides IT services that cover business consulting, insurance application development and support, legacy application support, and migration and conversion services. However, the company’s primary business is in call center services, where PGS delivers outbound telemarketing, customer care, helpdesk, application processing, billing, payment, account administration, and training administration services.
PGS was set up in 1996, as the captive offshore BPO operation of The Phoenix Companies, and signed its first new customer IBM in January 1998. It has since signed other deals with Computer Sciences Corp, MassMutual Financial Group, MetLife and Australia Insurance Group. TCS already provides software and services to existing insurance clients including AIG, Grange Insurance, Tower Group, AMP, AXA, Westpac, and Prudential.
This is just the latest takeover in the rapidly consolidating Indian BPO sector. Last month, IBM Global Services acquired India’s third largest BPO provider Daksh eServices for $161m, and earlier this year Citigroup increased its stake in call center provider eServe International to 100%. General Electric, which operates the largest BPO facility in the country, is also looking at divesting all or part of its 15,000-person operation.
