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Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT company, on Tuesday announced that it has bagged a 12-year order from Pearl Insurance for £486 million ($847 million).
With this, TCS will move into the British life insurance and pensions industry after entering into exclusive discussions with Pearl Group Limited, the closed fund group, with the intention to transfer existing Pearl business processes to a new UK company, based in Peterborough, which will be a subsidiary of TCS.
This deal will generate revenues of over £486 million ($847 million) over the next 12 years as a result of creating a new platform beyond IT services.
This decision comes after a rigorous and extensive, year-long, selection process by Pearl Group Ltd, who examined tenders from a number of leading companies before they decided to choose TCS, said a statement from the Indian IT major.
The agreement will mean that a new company, a subsidiary of TCS, will be set up and will employ about 950 of Pearl Group's current 1,100 staff, with about 150 staying with Pearl.
The new subsidiary will specialise in BPO for life and pension businesses, starting with Pearl Group's closed books portfolio.
It will also focus on offering similar services to other life companies, presenting it with an opportunity for significant future growth as business process outsourcing is rolled out across the life assurance industry.
Commenting on this strategic initiative, S. Ramadorai, CEO and Managing Director said, "This deal validates our strategy of pioneering the next generation of business process outsourcing opportunities. Our extensive experience working in the insurance industry together with our excellence in technology will help us emerge as a significant player in life assurance and pensions administration services and help us continue our strong growth momentum."
Phiroz Vandrevala, executive vice president and global head of corporate affairs said: "TCS is delighted to be chosen by Pearl, a decision based on our long-standing work in the UK insurance industry, our track record of working for five of the top 10 UK insurance companies and the result of our 14 year relationship with Pearl. TCS will sign a long-term lease at the Peterborough site and our intention is to establish a BPO centre of excellence for the UK there."
A S Lakshminarayanan, VP and country manager, United Kingdom & Ireland said, "TCS has been recognised for its outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom's knowledge economy, and together with the strength and heritage of Pearl and its professionals, we will create a new force in life and pensions BPO in the UK."
TCS is the world-leading information technology consulting, services, and business process outsourcing organization. TCS has been operating in the UK and Ireland since 1975 and has eight offices in these markets, including a development center in Guildford. Over 5000 TCS consultants are engaged on UK client work for organisations such as the NHS, Aviva, Forth Ports, Somerfield and P&O.