Disclosing this on Friday, IRA chairman N Rangachary said the regulator had been collecting the views of a cross-section of people in the insurance industry for the last two years and the new set of regulations governing the agents will be finalised soon.

Allaying the fears expressed by some agents that many of them would be disqualified when the new regulations are enforced, Rangachary said agents have a bright future in India. Those without requisite qualification will be given ample time till April 1, 2000, to attain the eligibility norms for insurance agents.

The IRA chief maintained that in a service-oriented business like insurance, there is no better way of selling than through the agency system. "There is evidence to show that thepublic also welcomes an individual approach to selling insurance products," he said.

When China opened up its insurance sector, AIG, which was the first US company to enter the sector, trained more than 8,000 doctors to sell insurance products. This route has been followed by several other insurers in China who have recruited and trained individuals in selling insurance products.

Regarding the free movement of agents from one insurer to another, Rangachary clarified that this depends on the costs incurred by an insurer in training an agent. "With huge sunk costs in training of agents, it would not be proper to allow independent status at least for a period of 10 years.

According to the regulations, after 10 years an agent can seek independent status from the "designated person" (persons appointed by the insurer and responsible for selection and appointment of insurance agents) by giving 30 days' notice.

Reacting to complaints from some agents that they were treated like `slaves' by LIC and not givenadequate rewards for business promotion, Rangachary admitted that the lack of interaction between LIC and the agents was very `disheartening'. He promised to make efforts to make the LIC management more sensitive to the needs of the agents.