Mr. Mathur is the Executive Director in the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). He has been with IRDAI right from its inception and worked at various levels.
Mr. Mathur joined the New India Assurance Company Ltd. as a Direct Recruit Officer in 1987 and had worked in the operational offices for around nine years.
His experience in IRDAI includes registration and supervision of Insurance / Reinsurance companies, registration of Insurance intermediaries such as Insurance brokers, corporate agents and Third Party Administrators and their supervision. He has been associated with the IFSC Task force Committee and represented the Authority in various International conferences.
Mr. Mathur holds a Master’s Degree in Management in addition to a Post Graduate Diploma in General Insurance. Currently, he is on deputation to IIRM as Managing Director since July 2021.
Q. Insurance industry in India is one of the most promising industry with tremendous growth potential. Still we have a large untapped market with significant potentials. How do you visualise growth of the Indian Insurance Market in coming years.
As you have rightly pointed out, in the coming years one of the big revolutions would be happening in the economy is in the insurance industry. Kick starting the big change in the insurance industry is our current Chairman of IRDAI who has proposed to ease of doing business in the insurance sector with a slew of measures among them – (i) reducing the regulatory burden on the insurance entities, (ii) encouraging and allowing micro insurance companies to ensure penetration into the rural markets. (iii) enhance utilization of technology for increased access of insurance products reaching to the common public. (iv) bringing in risk based supervision which enables the sector to have more capital for utilization of product distribution and improving awareness about insurance.
The pandemic has changed the perspectives about risk mitigation efforts globally, more so in India thereby unleashing the potential that it can offer to the individuals and the businesses in terms of absorbing a wide range of insurance products for their own benefit and overcoming risks. This will ensure a stable growth of 20% on a year on year basis in the Indian insurance market. Our new Chairman has already minimized the regulatory aspects giving scope for the industry and also individuals with their entrepreneurial capability to take advantage of the changing scenarios. Thus the penetration and the market growth of insurance industry will be significantly high in the coming years.
Q. After liberalisation the Insurance Industry opened up new avenues for Insurance distribution. With multiple Intermediaries like Insurance Brokers, Corporate Agents, Bancassurance, Agency channel, TPAs, POS Channel offer a huge scope for employment. How do you view the estimated demand for qualified working professionals in Insurance Industry?
At the time of liberalization insurance sector had only agents and surveyors. Our Chairman’s vision is to ensure adequate insurance cover to all the citizens by the year 2047. To realize this vision, intermediaries have to play a very significant and proactive role. All the training and educational institutions have to gear up to supply huge trained manpower and domain experts required by the industry.
With plethora of avenues available for product distribution, it has an immediate impact on the scope of employment opportunities for young aspiring job seekers. Right from the field level the entire value chain requires qualified, skilled and knowledgeable professionals which will lead to a higher growth for each individual contributing to the growth of the industry.
Q. Pursuant to your vision of creating a Centre of Excellence in Insurance Education, please brief us about the journey of IIRM?
IIRM is a joint initiative between IRDAI and the State Government envisioned as a Centre of Excellence for the Financial Services sector with Insurance as a special focus. Initially, it has started a one year program mostly as a training program module catering to the needs of the industry for almost a decade. Subsequently, due to demand from the industry for having human resources with broader perspective, and managerial capabilities along with domain knowledge, the Institute has entered into the foras of management education with Insurance and Risk Management as key specializations. Despite of many hurdles, in the year 2019, the Institute could occupy its own infrastructure which is now a platform for its journey towards the Centre of Excellence. Apart from having a two year PG program, various research initiatives, training programs, distance learning activities have also been kick started with a greater rigor. Progressively, the Institute would be contributing to the Insurance industry by way of knowledge dissemination, knowledge creation and knowledge enhancement which is an hallmark of any Centre of Excellence.
Q. Research and development is building block for any institution to grow and develop. What has been your efforts in this area of R & D which can make a meaningful contribution in growth of your Institute as well as Insurance Industry as a whole?
As mentioned earlier lack of effective infrastructure prevented the Institute to pursue Research and Development activity in a serious manner. Post 2019, the Institute started actively focusing on research based activity which would help the policy makers and the industry to make use of its findings. All our student work projects are based on the issues the industry is facing which requires additional information or inputs through research are taken up. Recently, the Institute has entered into MOUs with a number of organizations who are actively involved in the research and development works for the insurance sector. These MOUs will help the industry with newer insights and resolve many of their potential issues contributing to the incremental improvement in the policy aspects. As we are focusing more on research and development activity, I am sure in the years to come IIRM will be the name to reckon with for research and development activity to the insurance industry.
