New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- HDFC Life Insurance, India's second-largest private life insurer, has significantly increased its technology expenditures in recent years. Notably, its technology spending growth has even outpaced revenue growth over the past three to four fiscal years. According to a TechCircle analysis, HDFC Life's consolidated IT spending climbed nearly 28% in FY25 to Rs.338.2 crore, up from Rs.264.3 crore in FY24.
Over the past five years, HDFC Life has dedicated roughly one-fifth of its revenue to technology. In the last year, it has significantly enhanced its digital capabilities, with over 90% of service requests now handled through self-service platforms, improving both customer experience and operational efficiency.
The insurer has been actively developing a robust digital strategy, increasing investments in AI, cybersecurity, and data analytics to build a data-rich insurance platform that delivers an integrated customer experience. This strategy prioritises customer-centric design, omnichannel interactions, and AI/ML-led processes to boost efficiency.
For example, the company is leveraging AI and data analytics to enhance risk assessment, underwriting, fraud detection, and to provide personalised financial advice, enabling secure and transparent policy issuance and claims processing. It has also developed a mobile-first approach, utilising AI chatbots and paperless policies to streamline operations. Further, WhatsApp commerce improves communication and automates tasks, such as policy onboarding document collection.
In the last fiscal year, HDFC Life integrated generative AI for comprehensive document analysis, secure APIs, and specialised tools like Customer Interaction Summarizer, Report Analyser, and Pitch Generator. The company also restructured its technology team into business-benefit and core-technology-development groups. A cloud technology management system, it said, has further enhanced security and data protection compliance.
HDFC Life is modernising its data systems for enhanced flexibility and real-time, accurate information, adopting microservices and LoCo technology to minimise redundancy and accelerate operational efficiency. It has in place a serverless technology that facilitates code execution without server management, and API gateways create a flexible operational framework.
Integration with key third-party administrators (TPAs) enables real-time access to medical documents, speeding up policy issuance. Its AI-led underwriting process has helped in identifying potential fraud. Furthermore, the company's InstaCheck initiative has helped the sales team present eligible coverage options and an automated maturity payout system to ensure timely digital payouts.
Once considered a 'tech laggard', insurance players are increasingly recognising the power of innovation to accelerate the pace of change. According to a Gartner report, IT spending in India is projected to reach $160 billion by the end of 2025, an 11.2% increase from the previous year.
Furthermore, IDC InfoBrief and UiPath said in a joint report in July that AI technology spending in India, led by BFSI, government, and manufacturing, is estimated to reach $10.4 billion in 2028, with an annual growth rate of 38%, driven by enterprise automation, multilingual AI models, and agentic deployments.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.