The opportunities are many and will grow with almost 25 new entrants expected to be in this sector. The services of independent entrepreneur or group of professionals joining together is what required today. Only time will tell how many take up the challenge and at what stage. Presently, there is lack of awareness as the Insurance companies, professionals and educational Institutes have a lot to contribute in their own way to promote this cause. IRDA is responsible to promote growth of Insurance under its “Development” Banner. If existing & new Insurance Companies, Associations, Professional bodies, Academicians and dedicated Insurance Institutes do not timely step in to share the load of development of Insurance in India, IRDA as a watchdog will surely make it happen by making it an essential activity to be performed by each one of us.
Agents/ Insurance Advisers
The present system of selling Insurance through Agents or Insurance Advisors after the forthcoming amendments are through will continue but things are more professional today. IRDA has regulated the procedure for licensing of agents and their minimum qualifications; compulsory training, and passing of an examination conducted by Insurance Institute of India has been made mandatory before a license can be obtained. The license fee has also been increased 15 times. All this will provide a professional touch. The new entrants are going to require Insurance acumen and entrepreneurship skills for selling their products. At present there are approximately 15 lac agents representing the Life and General Insurance Companies. With the entry of the new players, it is estimated that there will be fresh requirement for 50,000 agents/ Insurance advisers every year. The recruitment procedure is explained in the module “Insurance Legislation”
Corporate Agents
The Corporate Agent is a corporate entity wherein two or more Agents join hands and form legal entity wherein minimum two directors/ partners of a Corporate Agents or the firm should have the qualifications required of an Individual Agent. The capital requirement is Rs 15 lakhs. With this concept many bankers have become Corporate Agents.
Brokers
In America and elsewhere a major amount of Insurance business is conducted through Brokers. A broker is representative of the insured (i.e. customer) rather than of the insurer, but he is like an agent in the sense that he gets paid in the form of commission by the Insurance company with whom he places the business. The broker solicits business from the Insured and then places the business with an appropriate Insurance Company. He can deal with any number of Insurance companies as opposed to the single company that an agent can represent. Brokers also provide pre sale and after sales service to the Insured. This concept also is an opportunity for those who plan to go on their own and bring business to the new entrants from areas where the companies do not have their own offices or may not want to set up an office due to economics of scale & limited business. The recruitment procedure in explained in module “Insurance Legislation”
Surveyors
Independent qualified professionals from the field of Engineering, medicine and finance can enter this field and provide valuable service to the Insurance companies who do not wish to employ surveyors/ loss assessors directly and prefer to have Independent people who will work for them on case to case basis for a percentage of the claim amount. In America, they are called Claim Adjusters and often they are authorized by the companies to settle the claims upto a certain amount and even make the payment to the insured, so that small claims are settled early and the insured’s satisfaction level is kept high.
Risk Managers
This is a highly specialized field. While some big Industrial houses are directly appointing Risk Managers on their rolls others are seeking the services of independent specialist firms/ individuals to advise them in this very important aspect. Risk Managers are mainly engineers, who have in-depth knowledge of safety, hazards, claim minimization and perception of magnitude of risk, which can possibly arise. Technocrats with experience have great opportunities in this specialized field.
Legal Consultants
As in the case of Insurance Consultants the services of legal consultants are availed of by both the Insurer and the Insured and their services are mostly required at the time of claim disputes, during arbitration, Third party claims, Liability claims or when the subject matter has been referred to the courts. It is predicted that growth of legal disputes out of insurance related matters is going to increase exponentially with over 20 new players entering the fray.
Investigators
Independent Individuals or a firm whose services are used on case-to-case basis by the Insurance companies to investigate the genuinity /quantum of claims especially early claims and theft claims. They are specialised people and need to be experts in their field as well as in Insurance. Insurance claim detection agencies, fraud control organisations, and statistical/ grading agencies run by entrepreneurs will take a start in coming times.
Recovery Agents
Their services are used by the Insurance Companies to settle third party claims. Wherein there is a chance of recovery from the third party. The insurers send the recovery agents to talk to the third party and arrive at a justified settlement thus savings on legal costs, which otherwise would have been incurred if the matter had gone to court. At times, the settlements made by the recovery agents are quite favourable.
Medical Professionals
TPA” means a Third Party Administrator who is engaged for a fee or remuneration determined in the Agreement for health services. He is a service provider to the Insured on behalf of insurance company. His work profile includes, to obtain all the requisite documents pertaining to the administration of insurance claim arising out of insurance contract concluded by the insurer with the insured and render necessary assistance and advise to policyholders or claimants or beneficiaries in complying with the requirement for settlement of claims with the insurer, if called for by the agreement;
Actuary
Actuary is most remunerative profession in Insurance sector. In life insurance companies the appointment of Actuary is statutory requirement. Basically he is a Production Manager of an insurance company especially of a Life insurer because he designs the product and its price so that the product is easily saleable in the market. To become an Actuary one has to become a member of Actuarial Society of India who has prescribed the qualification and examination to be passed by an individual. The minimum qualification is 1st class graduation and who studied Mathematics and Statistics at graduation level. It takes minimum 5-6 years to complete the course.
