Insurance Sector is in the news now-a-days. With the passing of the new Insurance Bill 2015 by the Parliament recently, the FDI limit has been increased to 49% from the earlier level of 26% in the sector.
This has raised the hopes and the aspirations of the youth in this country due to the following reasons:
- There are possibilities of new foreign Players entering the arena, leading to new insurance companies.
- The existing foreign Players may increase their stake to 49% from the present 26% in their insurance companies.
- As it is, there are 24 life insurance companies including the Public Sector Giant- LIC of India and there are 27 General Insurance companies including the 4 Public Sector companies in the field- The Oriental, National, United India and New India and 11 Re-insurers including 10 Foreign and one GIC Re- Indian Reinsurance company. There are 6 Stand alone Health insurance companies, taking the total to 68. More General Insurance companies are entering the arena.
- With new companies coming in to the Market, there are chances of more branches, more employees & officers, improving the employment opportunities in India in the near future.
- As it is, there are more than 15000 offices in the life insurance industry alone. The number may exceed 20000, if the General Insurance offices are taken into account.
- There are at present 3.49 lakh employees, employed by the 68 insurance companies and around 25 lakh agents in the entire life insurance industry.
Opportunities Galore
As per the Swiss Re Report, India occupies 9th position among the top 10 Life Insurance Markets in the world.
But 80% of our population does not have any life insurance policies, leaving an excellent, vast scope for the future business.
As per the UN Population Division Studies, 60% of our population is within the age group 15-59, which is the main target of the life insurance companies.
Again, 30% of our population is with the age group 0-14, one more target group for Children’s policies thus opening up huge vistas for growth of the industry.
During the financial year 2017-18, the new business and renewal business premium income in life insurance touched more than Rs. 5 lac crores.
These are all statistics pertaining to the life insurance sector alone and we may have to add the opportunities available to the General Insurance Sector too, because General Insurance sector is a humungous one, touching every aspect of human life- be it accident insurance, property, vehicles, equipments, liability, fidelity, cash-in-transit…. The list goes on even including event managements like marriage, natural catastrophes etc. Health insurance & Pension sector are another 2 major pillars of the insurance industry, leading to great opportunities for one and all.
Employment Avenues
We can divide the employment avenues for the youth as per the following criteria:
- Selling career- Insurance agents are the backbone of this industry- the minimum qualification needed for an Urban agent is 12th passed and for the Rural agent is the 10th passed- but this does not mean that higher qualified persons can not apply for this position or not eligible. As a matter of fact, now-a-days, we come across a lot of Graduates, Post-Graduates & MBAs donning the cap of agents. Actually this is an entrepreneurial opportunity open to the youngsters, with out any basic Capital amount. Of course, there is no fixed salary in this job, but you are rewarded with handsome commission- in some cases, going up to even 40% of the first premium. Sky is not the limit for the earning of a full time Professional insurance Agent- actually there are 2 Agents in Bangalore earning Rs 0ne Crore annually. There are also other benefits and privileges like Vehicle loan, Housing Loan, office allowance etc. The agent is entitled to become a Club Member right from the Branch Manager’s level up to the Chairman’s Club, making you entitled to a host of privileges and interest-free advances, subject to the fulfillment of certain new business conditions and servicing obligations. There are further prestigious associations for agents like the Million Dollar Round Table- MDRT, membership of the Life Insurance Management Research Association- LIMRA and the Insurance Corporate Clubs. With all these, you are the Master of your own time and need not be answerable to anybody.
- Supervisory Marketing career- Still if any youth does not want to enter the sales line directly, for him/her is the next opening called the post of a Development Officer or Unit Manager in a life insurance company. Here the minimum qualification is Graduate and above and the nature of the job is to recruit and train a band of insurance agents and help and motivate them for increasing their business. In addition, the Development Officer has to help the administration in Underwriting of new business, servicing of existing life insurance policies and assist in the settlement of both Maturity and Death claims. In short, this is a role of Group Leader leading a band of agents and motivating them. In this position, there are not only salary benefits but also incentives in cash and kind, for bringing out good new business. These people are eligible to become Class I Officers too in due course.
- Administrative career- There is a lot of openings for Graduates, Post-Graduates, Law Graduates, Chartered Accountants, and Engineers etc in the life insurance industry. They are all required to work in different departments like the Investment, Engineering, Accounts, Legal departments etc. They are all mostly directly recruited from the open market, with good salaries, comparable to the banking sector. Again, these direct recruits have the scope to rise to very high positions in the company as the Zonal Manager, Executive Director Etc.
- Openings in Different Departments:
- Product Development needing Actuarially qualified people
- Finance & Accounts for Chartered Accountants
- Human Relations- for MBAs
- Investment for Economists
- Training
- Legal for legally qualified
- Internal Audit
- Inspection
- Actuarial
- Information Technology
- MIS- Management Information System
- Data Analytics
- Risk Assessment & Underwriting
- Claims
- Regulatory Compliances
- Reinsurance
- Support to the Marketing Operations
- Complaints & Grievance Redressal
- Engineering needing Civil Engineers
- Maintenance of Properties & Equipments.
- Board Related Matters
- Research Wing &
- Planning including Long Term Planning.
- Confederation of Indian Industry’s estimation- 2.1 million employees would be required by the insurance industry by 2025 and this figure would touch 3 million by 2030. The 54 insurance companies have given employment to 349000 people in this country- direct employment- and indirect employment to 2 million people through Agency, Broker ship and others.
- Insurance Industry’s Contact Persons
- Surveyors in the General Insurance industry assessing the losses
- Advocates
- Claim and other Investigators
- Statutory Auditors, who are external people
- Third Party Administrators for Health Insurance Claims including Medi Claims
- Chartered Valuers in various fields
- Web Aggregators like Policy Bazaar
- Corporate Agents like Companies and Cooperative Societies who are authorized to do insurance business by the Regulator- IRDAI
- Insurance Brokers who represent the Customers (Agents represent the insurance Companies)
- Banks who enter into tie-ups with one or more insurance companies to sell insurance products- they can sell the Plans of 3 Life Insurance, 3 General Insurance and 3 Health Insurance Companies.
- Car Dealers who enter into contract with the General Insurance Companies for selling Motor insurance policies as a package for their 4 wheelers.
- Two Wheeler Dealers too for a similar arrangement.
- Not only insurance companies require qualified persons for their different departments but also these external agencies for their business, thus improving the employment opportunities.
- Actuarial career- An Actuary is a Specialist in the insurance industry, doing the job of projections for the future, premium calculations based on the Mortality Tables for the insuring populations and arriving at the present value for the future benefits. The Actuary also does the Valuation of an insurance company and arrives at the surplus or otherwise of the company. The Regulator- Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India- IRDAI- insists for an Actuary for every insurance company. India has very few Actuaries and there is a dire need to increase their number and the future is extremely bright for them. Actually there are only 200 Actuaries presently in India. Out of them also, only 40 are in the age group of 20-60, eligible for regular employment, whereas every insurance company needs at least 4 Actuaries.
- Intermediaries- Apart from the agents, there are many intermediaries to sell insurance policies- they are Brokers, Corporate Agents and Bank channels. If a person has sound financial background, he/she can become a Broker and do good business. Similarly institutions like the NGOs, Cooperative Societies etc can become Corporate Agents of insurance companies and do insurance business and earn commission. Any entrepreneurial youngster can begin this kind of NGOs. It is not necessary that all employments are provided by only the Government sector and Public & Private sectors in this country. Self-employment is the key to the question of unemployment. It is not surprising that now-a-days many IIT/IIM Graduates look for this avenue and begin their own start-ups and prosper in life. There are many banks ready to grant loan for such Projects. Banc Assurance channels offer good opportunities for persons with insurance knowledge to become a Specified Person in a bank to sell insurance.
- Insurance Marketing Firms- IMFs are appointed by the IRDAI and are authorized to do business for 2 life insurance, 2 General Insurance & 2 Health insurance firms at any point of time and earn commission through Financial Service Executives- FSEs- and these people can sell other financial products too like the Mutual Funds, Pension Products and other Savings Products. Entrepreneurial Graduates can undertake this job. This is a new opportunity as per the new Insurance Act 2015.
- Education Opportunities- Some Universities like the Amity University Noida, Christ University, Jain University, Acharya Institute and RIMS- Ramaiah Institute of Management Science, all of Bengaluru and the Bharathidasan University at Tiruchi offer insurance courses. Insurance Institute of India- III- Mumbai conducts the Licentiate, Associate and Fellowship examinations to make a person insurance-knowledgeable. III also arranges for campus interviews from the insurance companies, after finding out their man-power requirements.
- TPAs and Surveyors
Health insurance companies need Third Party Administrators- TPAs- for processing their medical claims and hospitalizations.
General Insurance needs Loss Assessors and Surveyors for assessing the damages caused to their insured properties like car, buildings, equipments etc.
Sky is not the limit
There is a vast scope for prosperity and wealth in the insurance industry and the future is excellent.
It is a Career in insurance, not an Accidental entry into the insurance sector.
You can choose a career you like in this field- Selling, Marketing, Administrative, Legal, Engineering, Chartered Accountancy, Actuarial, Surveyor and what not.
Along with the General Insurance, Health insurance & Pension Sector, even sky is not the limit for growth.
Why can’t the youngsters be a part of this great opportunity and treasure and play an important role in this growth story?
Insurance industry welcomes them with open arms with an objective “Your Future is our Concern”.
