OFFBEAT OPTIONS
Make a future in assessing future risks

With the entry of several private players in the insurance sector, there is more work for actuaries, the people who calculate the financial impact of uncertain future events, writes Manish Kumar Singal

HOW to secure your future, where to invest and, more importantly, how to ascertain the risk element in your investments? These are the questions that plague us in an uncertain world, where disease, mishaps and calamities can strike any time.

It is to provide a cushion against this uncertainty that insurance companies offer policies that cover eventualities like accidents, hospitalisation, household hazards, thefts or death. Compared to the select number of risks covered in the past, the insurance net has now been extended to more areas to meet the growing uncertainties of life. Several foreign insurance companies too are setting up shop in India to cash in on the potential in this sector.

This has not only given a fillip to the insurance industry but also created more job opportunities in this sector. According to a market research, there are at present around 30 insurance companies in India, of which 15 are concerned with life insurance and the rest with general insurance.

'Actuaries' are the persons who calculate insurance risks and premiums. Their work has traditionally been confined to life insurance. However, with the entry of private companies the demand for actuaries has not only increased manifold, their work has extended to more areas too.

Growing job market

A field that had few career opportunities earlier, has now a wider scope with certain institutes offering specialised courses in actuarial science.

"Only a candidate strong in maths should join this course as it is difficult to clear," says R.R. Grover, Director, Amity School of Actuarial Sciences, New Delhi.

Actuaries are experts in assessing the financial impact of uncertain future events. They enable financial decisions to be made with more confidence by analysing the past, modelling the future, assessing the risks involved and deducing what the results mean in financial terms. Actuaries help businesses and individuals make better-informed decisions with a clear view of the likely range of financial outcomes from different future events. The skills of an actuary in risk management are mostly used in the insurance, pension and investment fields.

Tough course to do

Actuaries are required to be fellows of the Actuarial Society of India (ASI) in addition to having operational responsibility for their work assignment.

Though it is a very rewarding career---with professionals earning up to Rs 20 lakh per annum--there are few personnel trained in actuarial sciences as it is a difficult course to clear.

Says Grover, "If a student does not have extra learning ability and a high intellectual capacity, he should not join this course. A number of brilliant students have spoiled their career as they were unable to complete the course."

"But for those who complete the course, the opportunities are tremendous," he adds.

Money matters

Earlier, actuaries were demanded just by the public sector insurance companies but now the new private companies too are on the lookout for these professionals.

"Actuaries are the backbone of an insurance company. Two of our students, after passing just three papers out of 15, got jobs in insurance companies with a package of Rs 25,000 per month. They returned to clear five more papers and are now earning Rs 25 lakh per annum. Even foreign insurance companies are approaching us for these professionals," Grover claims.

Elaborating on the tough nature of this training, he says, "Many of the students leave this course in between and take up jobs that pay less."

Once you complete the course and get the membership of the ASI, you can start private practice or take up a job in an insurance company, the stock exchange or other financial organisations.

Training talk

Says Dr Ashok Chauhan, Founder President of the Ritnand Balved Education Foundation, "Some of the chartered accountants and company secretaries join this course half-heartedly but are unable to clear the papers.

"Only people with an aptitude for maths and statistics should take up this field," adds Chauhan.

As of now, there are only two institutes in India that are offering a course in Actuarial Sciences. One is the aforesaid Amity School of Insurance & Actuarial Science, Delhi, and the other is the Narsee Monjee Institute in Mumbai, informs Grover.