CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN

INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Potential for career development in insurance sector is most vibrant topic today. One
Million plus persons are working today as an employees in Insurance sector and 5 Million
plus persons are associated with this sector as Agents,Consultants,Surveyors, Loss Assessors,
Underwriters, Claim Settlers, Salvage Dealers, Brokers, Sub-brokers, etc etc. The growth rate
in Insurance Sector is more than 20% in last 3 years. There is huge potential for development
in Insurance sector. The sector is under developed and penetration of insurance is very very
low in the country compared to other developing and developed countries. India is leading
towards one of the strongest economy of the world by 2020 and it is international
phenomenon that insurance sector always booms along with growing economy. Insurance
Services are the foundation for smooth functioning of all business & commercial activities.
Insurance is the backbone of overall economy of the country. For the developing country like
India where growth of the economy is at double digit rate, Insurance talent is inevitable. All
Industries in this scenario can be monetarily well protected from all types of catastrophic and
manmade risks. Insurance is a vehicle for growth in growing economies. The whole world is
looking at India as one of the giant and Asian tiger in next 8 to 10 years.
All this is true. But very interesting fact of the today is that no one is aware about the
exact potential of career development and opportunities in Insurance Sector. This article is
dedicated to find the facts and figures about career development opportunities in Insurance
Sector in India. This is an effort to enlighten and guide the readers, employees, students, stake
holders to understand the facts and facets of insurance sector and how one can develop long
term career in Insurance Sector.
The article will review all aspects of insurance sector and discuss
Opportunities for Career Development
Growth potential in Insurance Sector
Changing Scenario of Insurance Sector
Manpower & Skill Sets Required by Insurance Sector
Regulatory Changes in Insurance Sector
Present Academic Scenario
Available Educational Facilities
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 Recent Educational & Academic Developments

Speed and growth cycles of career enhancement in Insurance Sector
How to improve Employability and Skill Sets
Preparing Career Development Path in Insurance Sector
Challenges & Opportunities for Career Development in Insurance Sector,
Thousands of Career Fairs & Exhibitions across the country are covering all sectors
for career opportunities like IT, BPO, ITES, Engineering, Automobile, Management, Finance,
Medical, Health Care, Accounts, Law, Company affairs, etc, nobody is talking about
insurance sector for career development. People believe that insurance is a small part of
finance sector and it need not be cared beyond mere selling of insurance products.
Unfortunately I have to state that working employees, students, parents, media, academicians,
colleges, universities, top executives of insurance sector and society as a whole are not aware
about the exact potential and scope of career enhancement in Insurance Sector. Working in
insurance sector is always a secondary thought and society hesitates to honour career in
insurance sector. Association in insurance activity is always presumed as below status career.
This prejudice attitude towards insurance sector is a great harm for new entrants and career
growth of current workforce. This is ironical that due to this negative attitude, the new
generation is neglecting and under estimating a golden opportunity of developing gorgeous
career in insurance sector. It is more unfortunate that after more than 100 years of
commencement of insurance business activity in our country, the academicians, regulators
and top executives in Insurance Sector have ignored the need and importance of improving
the brand image of insurance sector.
Growth Potential in Insurance Sector in India
*Insurance is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Hardly 6 % of the population
of the country has covered by life Insurance. The penetration is as low as 0.9 % in general
insurance. Health Insurance has reached to merely 3 % of the population. In country like
USA, where the population is @ 35 Crores, there are more than 6000 companies are engaged
in insurance business. In India, population is more than 110 crores and hardly 52 companies
are working in Insurance Sector. If we assume that only 50% population is insurable, still we
need 10,000 companies to cater the need of 55 Crore people. Only Life Insurance sector has
grown to certain extent and people say that I wish to purchase LIC policy for my car or LIC
policy for stocks in my factory. Only compulsory policies of general insurance sector have
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been sold like motor policies and fire and industrial policies. Large number of general
insurance products is not even known to the employees of general insurance companies.
Thanks to electro mechanical equipments, scientific development and commercialization of
medical profession, health insurance penetration has reached to 3 % of population. Still this
number is very poor comparing to developed countries. Central Government has targeted Life
Insurance Penetration to 40 %, Health Insurance at 30 % and General Insurance at 15 % of
the population by 2030. This will create very huge potential for development in insurance
Sector. The insurance business was merely 12 Billion US $ by 2000 which has reached to
approximately 100 Billion US $ by 2012 and is now expected to grow 1000 Billion US $ by
2020 and 5000 Billion US $ by 2030.
* Approval of Bill of 49% FDI in Insurance sector is long awaited. Once it is enacted,
the number of insurance companies may rise to @ 150 to 200 in next 7-8 years. There is
immense potential for insurance industry to grow. At present there are 24 Life, 27 Non Life
and 1 Reinsurance, thus total 52 Insurance companies are in insurance business. Out of this, 4
companies are working exclusively as Health Insurance Companies. 334 insurance broking
companies, 800+ corporate agents and thousands of banks have entered in insurance business.
Third Party Administer (TPAs) Companies in Health Sector are 29 and TPAs growing in
Automobile and Legal Sector. The specialized functions in insurance sector are slowly
outsourced and lot many new companies will enter in this area. International insurance
surveyors, loss assessors, adjuster, underwriters, claim settlers, have already entered in India
and expanding their business activities. Even the world insurance and finance giants like
Warren Buffet, Lloyds, Munich Re, Swiss Re, have entered in India.
* Health insurance is developing as separate branch of Insurance. It is expected that
the number of health insurance companies will be equal to the number of life insurance
companies in near future. Bancassurance is also developing as Separate branch of Insurance.
People is India have more faith in banks than insurance agents. Many banks have already
entered into insurance business and lot more in pipeline. Banks find insurance as growth
vehicle. At present only GIC of India is the reinsurance company in the country. But
government is now thinking over allowing many more international reinsurance companies in
India. In few years, we may find 5 independent branches of insurance in India as Life,
General, Health, Banc assurance & Reinsurance.
* India is becoming Insurance Hub of the world. Giant insurance companies from
across the globe are outsourcing core insurance functions to India. IT infrastructure in the
country and new generation Indian Talent are attracting world insurance business for core
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functions for cost effective solutions. Indian software companies are leading in this race.
Even BPO in Insurance Sector is growing very fast. All this require technical and domain
skills sets of Insurance functions. This IT, ITES and BPO business in Insurance Sector from
outside India is expected to rise to 1000 Billion US $ by 2025 It is believed that next boom is
in insurance sector. Insurance will play key role in boosting economy further. In India, next
25 years will be dominated by Insurance Sector. The growth is expected at horizontal as well
as vertical levels. It will be from inside the country and from outside the country.
Changing Scenario in Insurance Business in India
* Insurance was strictly dominated by Agents and Development officers till 2000. But
IRDA has opened up new distribution channels such as Corporate Agent, Insurance Broker,
Bancassurance, Mallasurance, Online Sale of Insurance, Direct Sale, etc. These new channels
are growth engines of the insurance industry. One interesting aspect of this growth is that
Insurance Sector is heading towards SERVICING from merely Selling. The mantra of Sell it
and Forget it is now converting as Service & Retain Client. This requires Core
insurance knowledge and not merely Selling Expertise.
* The commission rates of insurance agents are slowly getting downward trend. The
servicing of client is now taken care by customer servicing department. The Technology has
now key role in policyholders servicing and provides better knowledge and expertise than
agents. Companies are now offering new gate ways for renewal commissions like through
internet banking, ATMs, ECS, Mobile banking, etc. It has reduced the dependency of
policyholders on agents for timely renewal of existing policies.
* Government is slowly removing the Income Tax rebates from insurance policies. It
has already signalled the same and introduced few provisions in current budget by restricting
the percentage of amount of premium with the sum assured of any policy.
* Product Development and new innovative policies has changed the olden rules of
the selling game. Merely begging for insurance or forcing a policy will not exist anymore.
The 35 % commissioned policy selling dominance will be eroded. .
* Insurance is Risk Cover or Investment is a matter of debate but common
policyholder is now diverting to PURE Insurance products such as Term Insurance. The
ULIP Story between IRDA and SEBI has focused on a need of domain insurance talent.
* There is certainly reasonable improvement in policyholders awareness and
knowledge about insurance. Government, IRDA and NGOs like FIBLI, insurance companies
and related stake holders are concentrating on customer education, literacy and awareness
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about insurance products and services through advertisements, seminars, workshops, comics,
e-literature, animated films,etc.
* As Insurance need is vertical as well as horizontal, the insurance business is
spreading across the country. Insurance companies are focusing and spreading network in
rural markets as it has huge potential. Technological development is helping this drive of
rural expansion.
* Health Insurance and Bancassurance sectors will grow drastically. General
Insurance Sector will also develop. In life Insurance Sector, Term Insurance Business will
dominate.
* In future, Online Insurance will have a key role in new business.
* It will be difficult to get insurance claims in future. There will be huge scope for
Claim consultants who will help people to get insurance claims.
* Insurance sector will slowly dominate the economy and there will be overall
developments in insurance sector. There will huge revenue generation form insurance
business in India as well as outsourced insurance business from outside India.
Employability Potential in Insurance Sector
As insurance sector is growing with 20% rate, there will be a huge requirement of Insurance
professionals in the country.
* NSDC Report National Skill Development Corporation has estimated the job creations of
2 Million persons in insurance and banking sector by 2021 in its latest report.
* CII Report - The recent survey of Confederation of Indian Industries estimated that there is
a need of @ 21 lakhs insurance educated employees by 2025.
* ASSOCHEM Report on Insurance Sector It has pointed out on employability potential in
Insurance Sector in its latest report. The report has estimated manpower requirement to be 30
Lakhs by 2030.
The job creation in insurance sector will be across the country as insurance business is
spreading across the country. The innovative distribution channels will play a vital role in
insurance penetration and of course, technology will be a great supportive tool for this
development. The manpower is required across the country. Insurance companies, banks and
financial services providers are focusing and spreading network in rural markets as it has
huge potential. It will generate huge employability not only at Metro and urban areas but at
semi urban and rural levels, too. At present there are 52 companies, 334 brokers, 1200 +
banks, 29 TPAs, 2000 IT, ITES & BPO companies, 400 surveyor and other insurance services
provider companies are working in India. The number will rise to double or triple in next 8 to
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10 years. These companies will have offices across the country and will generate jobs across
the country.
Career Development Path in Insurance Sector
Till IRDA, insurance career was dominated by selling activity. It is the assumed
misconception that any career in insurance sector will have to be connected with selling of
insurance products. The Insurance Agents and Development Officers community in the
country has coloured insurance policy selling with either begging of insurance or forcing for
insurance. The rebating in insurance premium has eroded insurance profession as under
privileged one. After IRDA and entry of corporate insurance companies, the face of insurance
career was always compared with the face of poor insurance agent. Career in Insurance was
always neglected one and approach towards it was one of the ridiculous one. But the situation
is now changing drastically. Career in Insurance is not merely a selling activity. Insurance
Sector require domain technical knowledge. The employees with core insurance competency
can only grow henceforth. After a decade of privatization, corporate companies have
understood that insurance is not a FMCG product and one must possess technical skills and
fundamental knowledge to exist & grow in this market. Servicing will be key for growth and
for this, one require domain expertise.
For new entrants, any graduation with specialized diploma in insurance domain like
underwriting, claims, motor insurance, health insurance, bancassurance, reinsurance, liability
insurance, aviation insurance, engineering insurance, agricultural insurance, marine
insurance, etc will be helpful to enter in insurance sector. One has to improve his academic
qualification and scope of skills by adding various diplomas from various streams of
insurance. As one grows with experience, this academic excellence and expansion will
improve his employability and scope of promotions and growth.
For existing employees, one has to improve his academic position along with
experience. Mere experience will not help beyond certain limit. As we expect 49 % FDI and
steep increase in number of insurance companies, the existing employees will have clear
advantage to grow. But for this, they must obtain domains skills and competency through
academic enhancement. The present employee in insurance sector should focus on overall
and multi dimensional development in his capacities, skill sets and academic qualifications.
The candidate with multifaceted core skills will have better opportunities over general
candidate. He should not limit himself only to underwriting or claims. He should always seek
for more and more knowledge. One can select a sector of insurance like Life or general or

health for developing his career path but he should be equipped with qualifications and skills
of other sectors also. It will widen the scope of opportunities available to him.
Skill Sets Requirements by Insurance Sector
At present, man power requirements are basically skilled based. Employees with
academic qualifications are encouraged for promotions. Fresher with academic qualification
in insurance are preferred. At present, Insurance Companies recruit freshers and train them
for 6 months or one year. But the attrition rate is so high that more than 42 % of new recruits
leave the company. Insurance companies are seriously concerned over the expenditure on
training and the rate of turnout. They are looking for employees who have been already
trained and having domain academic qualifications. Insurance Companies have found that
domain knowledge will improve selling, servicing, operations and all other functions. New
companies prefer persons with experience and academic qualifications. Skill sets required by
the insurance sector are underwriting skills, claim handling skills, operational skills, servicing
skills, risk assessment and classification skills, insurance product skills, distribution channel
operating skills, coordination skills, IT skills with domain knowledge, insurance accountancy
skills, etc.
Development of Insurance as Charted Profession
Insurance profession was a neglected profession. It is mainly because Professionalism
was not cultivated among Insurance Agents. Selling insurance was something like begging
for insurance or chasing for insurance. Rebating in Insurance Premium is the curse to
Insurance Profession. The analysis of need of insurance was never done. Policyholders are
buying insurance for themselves but for the sake of agents. But the scenario is changing
drastically. Instead of commission based module now finance ministry is planning to
introduce Fee Based Module similar to the profession of Charted Accounts / Cost & Work
Accounts /Company Secretary. It will improve and modify insurance profession.
Present Academic Scenario in Insurance Sector
Insurance is not rocket science. But it is not as easy as one can understand it by just
reading. Insurance is very interesting subject. Insurance has technical aspects as well as social
attitudes. It has relevance with mathematics, mortality, probability, longetivity, psychology,
risk evaluation, monitoring, accountancy, medical science, etc. The fundamental principles of
insurance are unique and needed to be understood thoroughly. Insurance practice needs
understanding and evaluation of various aspects at subtle and minute levels. Personal
interaction and understanding is necessary to acquire insurance domain skills. Unfortunately
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till now only Insurance Institute of India i.e. III was offering insurance education. But it is an
examination body and conducts only examinations. There is neither class room teaching nor
practical training. The syllabus is not revised well and old pattern is continued till now. III is
mostly limited to LIC and GIC employees. The diplomas offered by III do not denote the
level of competency or skill sets. Every year merely 300 to 400 persons across the country
clear Associate and Fellow exam of III. NIA i.e. National Insurance Academy offers mainly
specialized programs for top executives in insurance sector and MBA in Insurance. There is
nothing for new students and working employees. Few other institutes offer MBA in
Insurance. The MBA fees of these institutes are very high in the tune of 3 to 4 lakhs per year.
These Institutes cater a need of merely 500 to 600 Students per year when there is
requirement of few lakh students. Few other institutes and universities are offering MBA
(Banking & Insurance ) or B.Com with specialization in Banking and Insurance. But the
syllabus and courses contain 90 % of banking and hardly 10% of insurance. The students are
not able to work with insurance companies above 6 months as domain skills and core
knowledge is not imparted in these courses. The academicians in universities and colleges
and institutions do not have practical exposure towards domain knowledge in insurance
sector. Unfortunately in LIC and 4 subsidiaries of GIC also, hardly 12 to 15 % of employees
have domain and core expertise.
Recent Developments in Insurance Education
Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth Pune (TMV) has recently launched Specialized Courses in
Insurance Sector. TMV is a UGC recognized university which is Deemed University.
Insurance Academy is academic partner of TMV. Now first time in the country, TMV has
introduced following PG Diploma Courses

PG Diploma in Insurance Underwriting

PG Diploma in Insurance Claims
PG Diploma in Health Insurance
PG Diploma in Bancassurance
The duration is one year with distance mode and personal contact sessions on every

Sunday. TMV also offer e-coaching and e-mentoring facility. These course are designed and
developed as per the current and future needs of the insurance sector. The projects and
practical in these courses will improve skill sets of students. These courses are most idle for
working insurance employees to excel their career in fast growing insurance sector. Tilak
Maharashtra Vidyapeeth Pune (TMV) has also introduced undergraduate diploma courses
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 Diploma in Insurance
Diploma in Banking
Diploma in Financial Services
Summary
One thing I have observed is that the only thing you need to succeed in this
industry is that you have to be a simple, genuine person who is honest to the core and
delivers what has been promised. At the end of the day insurance business is about
promises and trust. It is about delivering in times of need and if this cannot be imbibed
in an individual neither the industry nor the individual will succeed.
Insurance Sector offers enormous career development opportunities.
Insurance sector is growing very fast and there is tremendous growth potential.
Insurance Business is changing by New Distribution Channels, Reduction in Commissions
& Product Developments and Pure Insurance Term Insurance Concepts.
India is becoming Insurance Hub of the world.
Insurance business has tremendous scope inside India and from outside India.
Literacy and awareness about insurance among masses is improving
Career in Insurance is technical and domain skill oriented and not merely selling.
The employability potential is huge and 20 lakh jobs will be created by 2030
Jobs creation in Insurance Sector will be across the country till rural India.
The job requires academic qualifications, domain skills and core competency.
Experience with academic qualification will develop career path in insurance sector.
Long Term Career is available in Insurance for next 25 years
Insurance is developing as one of the Charted Profession in the country.
One can excel career with high speed in Insurance Sector.
Salary Packages in Insurance Sector are lucrative with experience and expertise
Insurance Subject needs to be learned through personal interaction and practical projects.
One has to rush to acquire academic qualifications in domain insurance sector.