As the global insurance market hots up, actuaries have become hot property. And ever since actuarial process outsourcing (APO) has caught up, KPOs especially in India are wooing actuaries with lucrative packages.

Experts say, the estimated revenue from Indian offshore insurance BPO services are expected to rise from $790 million in 2007 to about $2 billion by 2010. However, as the market matures, Indian IT companies, who till now provided only back office insurance services like claims processing and others, are now moving to doing the more complex actuarial valuations jobs as well.

While APO is fast emerging as a niche KPO segment, there are no official studies to forecast the market yet. ?The global insurance KPO market is estimated to be around $430 million in 2007 and India's share is expected to be about 70% at about $300 million by 2010,? says Mohit Thukral, senior VP, Genpact.

According to Sanjiv Kapur, Senior VP Head, Patni BPO, ?Various sources of market research predict the KPO industry to be anywhere between $10 billion to $17 billion by the year 2010. Going by the indication and the response we are seeing from the global market, India has the potential to become actuarial back office of the world.?

Patni BPO has almost 120 actuarial workers in India. Kapur feels, considering, APO is not driven by volumes, growing to 125 FTEs in itself is considered significant. So what is driving this market? Apart from significant cost savings and improved productivity, India provides global companies access to skilled resources.