After having served as one of the most successful chairman of Leading PSU, how do you plan to expand the activities of National Insurance Academy, one of the premier learning institutes in India?
National Insurance Academy is a premier institution in Insurance education, training and research. The insurance sector is growing in a big way and there is a huge need for insurance talent to manage the growth. There is also a need for reskilling and upskilling the insurance employees to keep them contemporary and relevant. Research and consultancy in insurance has a huge potential at this point of time. The National Insurance Academy will be focusing on these areas in a big way.
How do you assess the overall market scenario in the Insurance sector and the way ahead?
The insurance sector will see huge growth in the coming decade due to increasing insurance awareness and need for insurance. The Government, Regulator and the insurers have been playing a very active role to increase insurance penetration and density in our country. The sector will contribute significantly to economic growth and job creation in the country. There is a very bright future for the insurance sector in the coming years.
How is the placement of students from your MBA programme?
NIA has been having 100% placement ever since the course was launched. The compensation levels are very attractive. NIA has produced more than 1000 young professionals who are occupying key positions in insurance, technology and financial services segments in India, Middle East, Singapore and USA. As the brand of NIA is excellent the students are sought after by the companies.
What scope do you see in the area of Risk Management and the need for the industry?
The world is full of risks. The severity, complexity of risks are increasing. New risks are emerging on the horizon. We have seen companies getting into trouble due to their inability to manage risks. The need for Risk Management is very important in the organisations. The Regulators have made Risk Management mandatory in companies. However Risk Management has largely remained on paper due to lack of trained and certified risk professionals. We at NIA have developed a Risk Management certification programme in collaboration with RIMS , USA which would fill this gap significantly.
Do you think training in the insurance sector in India has taken a back seat and some serious efforts are needed to fix this learning gap?
The need for training in Insurance is very high especially due to the huge and rapid changes happening and also due to growth of the sector. The companies are conscious of this.
We have designed many new programmes to take care of the changing needs of the industry. We trained about 6,500 insurance executives last year and this number is increasing. We are training insurance executives from other countries as well who consider NIA as a centre of excellence in insurance learning. There is also a demand from the Middle East to set up a branch of NIA to give high quality training to insurance executives.
According to you, what should be the areas which may be of high demand in the coming future?
The news areas where there is need for training include Digital transformation, Risk Management, data Analytics, fraud Analytics, Actuarial science, corporate governance. We have been focusing a lot on these areas.
The Insurance Industry is becoming very competitive. The students must gear up to face new challenges to handle the work pressure as well as to excel in performance. Do you integrate these aspects in your programmes to help the students to cope up with these challenges?
Our course is designed to provide management skills as well as insurance expertise. We provide a lot of soft skills and prepare the students to face the challenges of the insurance industry which is growing and facing a lot of changes. Our students are prepared to take over the roles of industry leaders who would run their companies efficiently and professionally. The unique faculty composition and environment in the campus ensures a huge connection to the real corporate world and the students are well prepared to face the challenges.
Anything else you would like to add?
The world of insurance is witnessing fascinating changes and we need huge insurance talent. There is need for many quality institutions to meet the needs of the growing insurance sector. Key word is quality.
