Insurance : Introduction
Insurance means being covered or protected against any hazards of life.
It is a financial agreement that binds two people to certain obligations
which is known as Policy. One who buys insurance/ gets insurance coverage
is the policy holder or insured and the one who sells the policy is the
insurer. From the time the insured signs the policy he/she has an obligation
to pay a certain amount of money known as premium at regular intervals
for a stipulated period to the insurer. In fact, insurance is a contract
to pay a premium in return for which the insurer will pay compensation
in certain eventualities e.g. fire, theft, motor accident, etc.
The Indian insurance industry has witnessed exceptional
growth with private participation. It has a mix of public and private
players both in the field of life and non-life business. This sector not
only provide a protective shield to the lives and assets of the nation
but also generate thousands of jobs and career opportunities.
The foremost choice to open a career in this field is to start as an
insurance agent. They are the people who advice the individuals and enterprises
about insurance protection to their health, life and properties and sell
the policies to provide protection against financial loss. Depending on
their educational qualification and strengths, the agents have a good
chance of becoming an employee of the company. This industry also provide
great opportunities in marketing, distribution, actuarial, underwriting
operations and investing departments.
There are about 30 insurance companies in India. The
major government companies are Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC),
General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and Postal Life Insurance. While LIC
deals with insurance of life, GIC and its subsidiaries are concerned with
non life aspects of insurance such as car, marine, accident, medical and
fire insurance.
Many multinational companies have come forward in the insurance
field. ICICI Prudential, Om Kotak Mahindra, Birla Sun-Life, Tata AIF Life,
Reliance, HDFC Standard Life-Insurance Co., Max New York Life, SBI Life
Insurance, ING Vysya Life etc. are the top companies in the private sector.
In non-life insurance segment, major private players are ICICI Lombard,
Royal Sundaram, Cholamandalam, IFFCO Tokyo, Tata AIG etc. All Insurance
companies come under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) which is established to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth
of Life and General insurance industry in India.
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