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ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12
able to attract, motivate and retain outstanding people,
committed to adopting a ‘needs-based’ approach to
fi nancial advice.
48. Keeping the above in mind, IRDA conducted a
thorough review of the existing life insurance agent
licensing qualifi cation. It was decided to utilize the
expertise of Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), London
in enhancing the existing IC33 “License to practice” the
qualifi cation for pre-recruitment examination for life
insurance agents conducted by the Insurance Institute
of India (III). All the key stakeholders worked together
to realise this goal. The revised IC33 syllabus has been
uploaded on the IRDA/III website, which is available for
free download. The training in the revised syllabus has
commenced from 1 st October, 2011. The revised IC
33 syllabus is available on the IRDA website
www.irdaonline.org in eleven regional languages, i.e.,
English, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu. The same
can be downloaded for free.
49. This new course book and the revised qualifi cation
that agents will now use is a vital part of the Authority’s
strategy. IRDA has developed a syllabus that is
challenging in its scope and depth. It does not simply
encourage agents to memorise facts and figures; but also
tests their understanding of learning, and ability to apply
it in a wide range of practical real-life situations.
Strengthening on-site inspections:
50. Inspection is one of the essential supervisory methods
in any regulatory set-up. The Authority actively deploys
this vital function in providing strong and critical support
to the smooth functioning of the regulatory and supervisory
framework through its Inspection Department. During the
financial year 2011-12, 11 comprehensive and 33 focused
on-site inspections of various insurance related entities
were conducted. Under comprehensive on-site
inspections, 4 life insurers, 4 non-life insurers and 3 other
entities were inspected; whereas, 3 life insurers, 12 nonlife
insurers and 18 other entities were covered under
focused category. Over the year, the Inspection
Department has been strengthened not only in terms of
re-deploying specialised supervisory resources, but also
through initiating a process of undertaking necessary
measures so as to ensure a more focused and objective
approach to the working of the Inspection Teams.
Financial Stability:
51. In accordance with the announcement of the Union
Budget of 2010-11, the Financial Stability and Development
Council (FSDC) was set up in December 2010, after the
recent global economic meltdown, as India’s initiative to
prevent such incidence in future. The FSDC has been
set up to strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism
of maintaining financial stability, financial sector
development, inter-regulatory coordination along with
monitoring macro-prudential regulation of economy. The
Union Finance Minister of India is the Chairperson of
FSDC. Its members include the heads of the fi nancial
sector regulators and representatives from key
departments of the Ministry of Finance. The responsibilities
of FSDC are Financial Stability, Financial Sector
Development, Inter-Regulatory Coordination, Financial
Literacy, Financial Inclusion, Macro prudential supervision
of the economy including the functioning of large financial
conglomerates, Coordinating India’s international
interface with fi nancial sector bodies like the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Stability Board (FSB)
and any other body as may be decided by the Finance
Minister from time to time.
52. The FSDC formed a sub-committee, which is headed
by Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Subcommittee
has replaced the existing High-level
Coordination Committee on Financial Markets (HLCCFM)
of the financial sector regulators, and its mandate includes
monitoring fi nancial markets and identifying potential
threats to fi nancial stability; to review the assessment of
build-up of systemic risks and make suitable
recommendations on the same; to provide a forum for
inter-regulatory coordination and facilitate effective
information sharing amongst various regulators; and to
identify the systemically important financial conglomerates
and to address the concerns and issues related to the
same. The FSDC Sub-committee has formed various
working groups and sub-groups with members from the
four regulators viz., RBI, SEBI, IRDA and PFRDA and the
Ministry. Each of the Working Groups/sub-groups, so
formed has been constituted with a predetermined
purpose and mandate.
Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP):
53. India had in the year 2010 been categorized by the
Financial Stability Board (FSB) as ‘Jurisdiction for further
evaluation’. Specifi cally, it had been indicated that there
is insufficient information available with the FSB on India’s
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