“India needs atleast 1000 qualified actuaries in the near future”, IRDAI Chairman

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, February 19, 2020: Addressing the inaugural session of the 21^st Global Conference of Actuaries (GCA), Chief Guest Dr. Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Chairman Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) of India, highlighted the critical contribution of actuaries as conscience keepers of the insurance industry.  Recognising the specialised skills of actuaries, he called upon the profession to play a larger role beyond traditional areas of actuarial work such as in product innovation and regulatory sandbox initiatives and in public interest programmes.  He emphasized that the number of actuaries per capita is significantly lower than other markets and said that India needs atleast 1000 qualified actuaries to enable actuaries to cater to multiple domains and industries. 

Over 750 delegates from financial services across the globe are attending the 21^st GCA. A wide variety of topics are on agenda relating to the theme of 21^st GCA - “Actuaries: Striving for Excellence, Creating Sustainable Future”. 

“The Global Conference of Actuaries helps to bring actuaries worldwide together on a common platform. I am really happy to see the participation of leaders of the financial services from all across the globe to deliberate on important topics like climate change, IFRS 17, Insure tech and bridging the gap between actuaries and non - actuaries ”, said Sunil Sharma, President, Institute of Actuaries of India.

One of the sessions focused on climate change, its potential impact on society and appropriate response mechanism. The potential and impact of behavioural data analytics on improving business decision making in global financial services sector was discussed.

India is a recognised global hub for actuarial services. The users of actuarial services from global service centres located in India shared their experience. Senior professionals reiterated how insurance companies and regulators need to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies including insuretech.

About Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI): IAI is a statutory body established under The Actuaries Act 2006 (35 of 2006) for regulation of profession of Actuaries in India. The provisions of the said Act have come into force from 10thday of November 2006, in terms of the notification dated 8th November 2006, issued by the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs. As a consequence of this, the erstwhile Actuarial Society of India was dissolved and all the Assets and Liabilities of the Actuarial Society of India were transferred to, and vested in, the Institute of Actuaries of India constituted under Section 3 of the Actuaries Act, 2006. The erstwhile Actuarial Society of India (ASI) was established in September 1944.

Since 1979 the ASI has been a Full Member of International Actuarial Association (umbrella organizations and is actively involved in its affairs. In 1982, the ASI was registered under Registration of Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act XXI of 1860 and also under Bombay Public Charitable Trust Act, 1950. In 1989, the ASI started examinations up to Associate level, and in 1991, started conducting Fellowship level examination leading to professional qualification of an actuary, till then the accreditation was based on Institute of Actuaries, London examinations (now Institute and Faculty of Actuaries).