But with the opening up of the Indian economy since the early 1990s, thingsare different now. The domestic insurance sector has been opened up toforeign and domestic private players, and this has resulted in a demand for trained insurance professionals, which is expected to clocksomewhere around one lakh by 2003.

Taking a cue from the emerging trend, the Delhi based Ritnand BalvedEducation Foundation (RBEF) has come up with the Amity School of Insuranceand Actuarial Science (ASIAS). ASIAS offers three different programmes oninsurance management and training, for which it has roped in the help of theIntercontinental Marketing Systems (ICMS) Group of Companies, of the US. Theinstitution has also plans to offer a course on actuarial science subject toapproval from the Actuarial Society of India.

Earlier, whatever demands for actuaries and trained insurance professionalsthere were came primarily from the life insurance segment, which was againunder the monopoly of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. LIC used tosponsor its executives if they wished to take up a course in insurancemanagement or actuarial science conducted by insurance and actuarialsocieties abroad, like the Institute of Actuaries in London.

ASIAS offers two of its proposed three full-time programmes at present.These are a one-year, full-time, post-graduate diploma in insurancemanagement and a training programme for intermediary agents. The instituteis also conducting part-time programmes for working professionals; theseinclude a three-month, part-time programme and a one-year, part-timespecialisation programme.

Amidst all the programmes currently on offer, ASIAS puts its focus on theone-year, post-graduate diploma programme in insurance management. Accordingto R R Grover, joint director of the institute, "This course will providestudents with more job opportunities than the other courses we offer now."The institute has pegged the course fee for its one-year, post-graduatediploma programme at Rs 45,000, which can also be paid in three equalinstallments.

"The training programme for intermediary agents is modelled after IRDA(Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) guidelines," says Grover.Recently, IRDA stipulated that June 2000 onwards, insurance agents,surveyors and other intermediaries would need to get a licence certifyingthat they have successfully passed a test to be conducted by the InsuranceInstitute of India.

"Participants of our training programme will find it easier to pass thetest," says Grover. The course fee for the programme has been kept at Rs7,500 for self-sponsored individuals and Rs 15,000 for company-sponsoredcandidates.

ASIAS is also offering a three-month, part-time programme and a one-year,part-time specialisation programme for working professionals. The fees forthe programmes have been pegged at Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively.ASIAS has put its two-year, full-time, post-graduate programme in insurancemanagement on hold as it is yet to secure affiliation with the Guru GovindSingh University.

ASIAS' actuarial science programme is also awaiting approval from theActuarial Society of India (ASI), which, it seems, will take another 12months to come through.

Apart from putting a tab on intermediary insurance agents and surveyors,IRDA has also kept an eye on the actuaries profession itself in the country.For this purpose, the authority has drafted the Institute of Actuaries ofIndia (IAI) Bill, which is currently under consideration by the Union lawministry. The bill, which will be tabled in Parliament's next session,proposes to replace the ASI with the IAI as the governing body for theactuary profession in India. Once the bill is passed, IAI will enjoy equalstatutory status with the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India, IndianCost & Works Accountants of India and the Indian Institute of CompanySecretaries.

"Till ASI is converted into IAI, the society's approval for the Amity schoolprogramme is likely to be held back," says A D Gupta, president of ASI'sDelhi chapter. "Only after we get that statutory status will we be in aposition to approve the programme content." Gupta says getting an approvalfrom ASI implies that the Amity school will have to maintain the standardset by the actuarial society.

At present, four major institutes conduct professional programmes ininsurance and actuarial science in India. These are the Insurance Instituteof India, National Insurance Academy, Actuarial Society of India and theInstitute of Insurance Surveyors and Adjustors. And the variousspecialisations on offer in the field of insurance include marine hullinsurance, cargo insurance, re-insurance, industrial and commercial riskmanagement, employee benefit schemes and insurance in railways.