Mumbai, NFAPost: Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur exhorted actuarial professionals for suggestions on concerns like risk management and help the government to build a conducive ecosystem for entrepreneurs, professionals and small businesses to co-exist with large giants.
Anurag Singh Thakur was delivering his keynote speech on the final day of the Virtual Actuarial Conclave (VAC 2021) held from 10th – 13th March 2021 organised by the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI). Over 1900 delegates registered for the event.
“I appreciate the contribution of the Actuarial Profession towards accelerating country’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and would like to have valuable feedback from IAI on how GOI can continue and expand the reforms that are underway,” said Anurag Singh Thakur.
FDI limit
While covering the important points of the Union Budget, the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs highlighted the government’s continued focus on initiatives like healthcare and farming. He exuded confidence that the recent increase in FDI limit for insurance companies will result in a much-needed fresh capital infusion and bring in the global best practices to the industry.
In the session on Government Actuarial Department, the past president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) Charles Daykin discussed in detail the UK Government Actuarial Department (GAD) and the role of the UK Government Actuary in terms of the role and responsibilities. The session was moderated by the Ministry of Railways Additional Member Finance Dakshita Das, IAS.
Institute of Actuaries of India President and SBI Life Insurance Company Limited Chief Actuary & Chief Risk Officer Subhendu Kumar Bal said internationally the concept of government actuarial department is prevalent in several countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, Japan and Canada.
Government actuary
“South Africa is now looking to set up a government actuary department. IAI is also in talk with the Department of Financial Services in Ministry of Finance to set up an Actuarial Department,” said Subhendu Kumar Bal.
There may be more demand on actuaries due to the implementation of IFRS 17 and also a requirement in wider field area such as data science, banking etc. Chairman, IRDAI also in his inaugural speech has mentioned the requirement of more than 1,000 actuaries looking at the number of insurance companies and the size of insurance business in India.
Subhendu Bal said that to meet the ever-increasing demand of actuaries, the Institute has taken initiatives and efforts to increase awareness of actuarial science with several educational institutions. “Further, Institute is providing coaching and counselling support to student to qualify faster without compromising the quality of education,” he said.
The four-day event ended with the presentation of Academic Excellence awards, cultural performances by members and a valedictory ceremony.
President, IAI thanked all the participants, speakers, chief guests, sponsors and all other people involved in this signature event to make a huge success.
Institute of Actuaries
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 10th day 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 the International Actuarial Association (umbrella organizations and is actively involved in its affairs. In 1982, the ASI was registered under the 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 the professional qualification of an actuary, till then the accreditation was based on Institute of Actuaries, London examinations (now Institute and Faculty of Actuaries).
