How To Become An Insurance Agent In India

What is an Insurance Agent?

An insurance agent is an individual that works for an insurance company. They sell insurance policies to people and get a commission from the company. The people who purchase policies for insurance agents might be relatives, friends, and familiar people.

Type of Insurance Agents

There are to type of insurance agents worldwide and in India too. first is captive agent and second independent broker.

Captive insurance agent

A captive agent works with only one company, usually a large national insurance provider. The captive company provides training and support to the agent. In return, the agent represents only the company’s products and cannot sell policies to a competitor.

Many captive insurance agents must sign a non-compete agreement, limiting them to only one insurance company for a specific time. Commission rates may be lower depending on the carrier’s marketing support provided to the agent.

Independent insurance agent

An independent agent is someone who works with more than one insurance company. The agent provides quotes from multiple companies to clients to find the best policies and prices.

Independent agents have more flexibility in their product offerings but receive less training and support from their insurance carriers.

Agents should build their brand in their markets rather than relying on the marketing support of well-known insurers. They can make the road to becoming an independent insurance agent more challenging.

What does an Insurance Agent Do?

Insurance agents sell and negotiate life, health, property, or other types of Insurance to match the needs of their clients. As an insurance agent

You may work for an insurance company, refer clients to independent brokers, or work as an independent broker.

Below are some of the characteristics a successful insurance agent needs to complete their puzzle:

• People Skills. People skills are the number one characteristic of a successful insurance agent.
• Good Salesmanship.
• Customer Service Skills.
• High Energy Level.
• Honesty.
• Knowledge of a Variety of Products.
• Choose the Right Carrier.

How much does An insurance Agent earns?

An insurance agent can easily earn 40,000 per month from LIC. In fact, like any other business, the revenues keep increasing here. The simplest method of getting started is setting small goals for yourself in the first few months and then gradually increasing.

Here’s the plan to earn 40,000 from LIC.

To earn 40,000 in commissions, you need to sell one LIC policy with a premium of 1,00,000, or you can look at it like this

1. One policy of 1,00,000
2. Two policies of 50,000
3. Four policies of 25,000

Now how do you get this? First, list down your strengths, I mean things you are good at like speaking, meeting people, sending mail, printing and distributing brochures, etc.

Future of Insurance Agent Career 

The career requires a person with a zeal to earn money, a keen interest in interacting with people, and nothing to invest in their job except time and hard work.

The insurance market in India is at a growing stage, with more and more people becoming aware of Insurance.

The insurance agents serve as the backbone of the insurance industry as they are the force with maximum market penetration. Hence, more lucrative schemes by insurers to their agents.

There is no maximum limit on an agent’s earnings, depending only on the business procured.

How to become Insurance Agent?

If you’re ready to jump into the industry of insurance, consider these steps to becoming an insurance agent.

IRDA Rules & Regulations for Insurance Agent

IRDA is the insurance regulatory authority in India. As per IRDA, any individual who plans to become an insurance agent needs to fulfill the following criteria:-

• Minimum 12th std passed for urban areas, and 10th std passed for rural areas(population >5k).
• Candidates must complete 50 hours of training from an IRDA-approved training institute for a General/Life insurance license or 75 hours for a composite license.
• Candidates must clear the IC33 exam for Life Insurance & IC34 for General Insurance license.

Currently, you can only be associated with one general Insurance & one life insurance company. Also, to appear for the exam, you need to enroll with an insurance company that would arrange your training and license.

Once you are licensed as an insurance agent, the validity for the same will be three years.

Education & Qualifications

When an Applicant knows what is usually beneficial Insurance upright, one must know the basic terms. These are as follows:

• One’s age needs to be 18 or above.
• Applier needs to be 12th passed:
  • Urban area- 12 the past
  • Rural Areas – 10th pass
• An Applicant requires to pass an exam administered by the IRDA -Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
• Every state requires a license for business insurance. An agent needs clear per-licensing courses and quality state examinations to obtain the license. An agent will need a division license to market- life and health insurance, casualty, or property insurance.

Eligibility criteria

• Registration Process: To become an Insurance agent, you must complete a simple registration form available on the website. You can submit the documents specified in the article.
• Online or Offline Training: Once you are done with the registration process, you will have to go for online or offline training of 25 hours. The training includes all the phases of the Insurance Business. Upon the finish of the training, you will be awarded a training certificate.
• Examination: Further, you will perform a Pre-Licensing Online exam conducted by IRDA and obtain at least – 17 out of 50 Marks. The questions in the examination will be of objective type.
• License: Upon passing the exam, you will be given a license by IRDA to work as an insurance broker. Then you will be appointed as an agent.

Documents Required

One would require to address an Insurance company to become an Insurance broker. After that, apply in the designated format along with financing documents. Documents are :

1. Identity Proof-Aadhar card
2. Address proof
3. PAN CARD copy
4. Some copies of one’sone’s photograph
5. Highest education certificate

Top 10 companies to apply as an insurance agent!

• MIBL or Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd.
• India Insure Risk Management and Insurance Broking Services Pvt. Ltd
• ACME Insurance Broking Services Pvt. Ltd.
• Bharat Re-insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.
• Helios Insurance Broking Services Pvt. Ltd.
• First Policy Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.
• Excellent Insurance Broking Services Limited
• K.M. Dastur Reinsurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.
• Unicorn Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.
• Tower Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Related: 12 Ways to Make Money Online in India [Aug-2022]