Tata AIG ties up with Audatex, to invest $4mln by 2008

New Delhi, July 18 (UNI) Tata AIG General Insurance today announced its strategic tie-up with Audatex, to provide India's first comprehensive online motor claim settlement solution, for over five lakh customers.

''We have already invested 3 million dollars so far and are looking at investing 4 million dollars more in the next 2 years in hardware, software, data and training infrastructure,'' Audatex India CEO Pankaj Kapoor said.

Under the tie-up, Audatex India will offer Tata AIG General the web based, fully integrated solution, AudaEnterprise (AE), that will assist the company in managing the entire range of claims activity from intimation of accident to settling of claims and beyond.

The solutions will reduce the turnaround time of a claim settlement by about 50 per cent and will benefit over five lakh auto policy holders of Tata AIG General Insurance.

''This association with Audatex will enable us to add more services to our existing portfolio, to halve the claim settlement time and thus significantly increase customer satisfaction in the auto insurance segment. We are extremely pleased to partner with Audatex in providing online claim settlement solutions to our customers,'' Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd MD Dalip Verma said.

This is the latest in the series of firsts the company has introduced in the field of Auto Insurance, besides initiatives of direct payments to Key Preferred Garages, the Auto Restore warranty and the mobile claims services.

The customers of Tata AIG General will get their damaged cars repaired at body shops across the country, which will submit an estimate to Tata AIG General for the repair of the crashed car, which Tata AIG General engineers will evaluate, and accept the liability after making an assessment of the damage.

The Audatex online solution will offer measurable benefits to all parties in a claim at every step by reducing paperwork and turnaround time.

Tata AIG is a joint venture between the Tata Group and American International Group, In. (AIG), in which the Tata Group holds 74 per cent stake in Tata AIG.

The Tata Group registered revenues of Rs 79,911 crore in 2004-05, equivalent of about 2.8 per cent of the country's GDP.

Audatex India, part of the Audatex Group, operates in 27 countries worldwide. In April 2006, Audatex was bought by the Solera GTCR group which is one of the largest technology private equity investors in the US.

UNI RA ARB HT1844