In India the profession of actuary is among the least popular of the various professional courses available for undergraduate and graduate students.
According to the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI), today India has only 425 fully qualified actuaries. The Institute has 160 associate members and around 10,000 students are at various stages of acquiring actuarial qualifications in the country. This shows that there is ample scope for growth in this sphere.
IRDAI chairman Dr Subhash Chandra Khuntia had also recently called for promotion of the profession and encouraged more youngsters to join the actuarial bandwagon.
Asia Insurance Review spoke to Ms Anika Jain, pursuing her actuarial studies with IAI, to look at the profession from a millennial student’s point of view.
Lack of awareness about the profession
Speaking about why not many youngsters choose the actuarial profession, Ms Jain said, “I feel that there is lack of awareness around who actuaries are and what actuarial science is – especially around the difficulty of the subject.”
“From a broader perspective, this is closely related to the fact that insurance penetration is still very low in the country. Even for students entering the profession, the motivation is more around the financial aspect and/or the job opportunities,” she said.
To create better awareness about the profession, Ms Jain said, “An important step would be to have more courses in universities with accreditation from the IAI.”
Millennials in India need the right guidance
She said, “Millennials in India are very well informed and they keep connected with the world through the widespread use of internet and social media. If I can say so, it is also perhaps the most educated section of the Indian population.”
She said, “There is a big pool of talented millennial individuals who only need the right guidance to embark upon the exciting and rewarding voyage of actuarial science. It is gratifying to note that during the last decade there has been a steady growth of student actuaries in the country.”
“For the IAI to attract potential entrants a good starting point would be to provide them an opportunity genuinely to explore the content of the actuarial exams and know what one does in an actuarial job,” Ms Jain said.
In campus interaction could set the ball rolling
“This could be achieved through arranging in-campus orientation programmes where interaction with experienced actuaries can be worked out. This approach could lead to the development of the right reasons and a right beginning for getting into the profession for long term,” said Ms Jain.
Actuaries play a critical role in the investment, pension fund and insurance segment, and with the advent of digital technology, the role of actuaries will continue to grow.
In India, though actuaries are mostly engaged in the insurance and pension sectors, their services are sought in banking, risk management and investment banking as well.
Also, now that banks have to comply with Basel III and Solvency II norms, actuaries can be of much help to them as well.
Ms Jain said, “As our economy develops and time progresses, the demand for actuaries will increase due to greater involvement in the fields of finance, banking, investment and risk management in addition to insurance.”
Needs interest and love for challenges
Speaking about how she got into the actuarial profession, Ms Jain said, “Firstly, I have always had a keen interest in disciplines like mathematics, statistics and economics. Problem solving is a skill required to excel in these subjects – a fact which excited me.
“Secondly, I’m always on the lookout for challenges. The fact that actuarial science is one of the toughest subjects with relatively few actuaries around the globe was an interesting proposition to me.”
Ms Jain said, “Actuarial work is actually very dynamic with new complexities emerging on a regular basis and it helps the student to develop a niche skill-set with wide applications. The insurance industry is growing at a steady pace in India which means there are new possibilities and dimensions waiting to be explored.”