The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has tied up with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance to design a course customised for the insurance sector. Trained professionals are in great demand in the insurance industry, growing at an annual rate of over 110 per cent in India. The IIM course will try to cater to this demand.

“The number of insurance companies In India has grown from just 1 in 2000 to 18 in 2008. But employability is a huge issue and students with a regular MBA degree don’t have the specific skills required for the sector,” said Ashok Banerjee, the chairman (consultancy and management development programme) of IIM Calcutta.

Though companies like Aviva and ICICI Prudential shop from premier B-schools, most insurance firms use in-house module to train new recruits.

The one-year certificate course, called the executive programme in management and insurance, will bridge the talent gap in the industry, said Banerjee.

The students will be exposed to various specialised functions like actuarial science and financial planning. The programme, which will be launched this August, will include 10 months of classroom training and a two-month internship.

The programme, with a course fee of Rs 2.1 lakh, will have 21 modules, to be taught over three semesters. The first academic session, with a batch of around 80 students, will start in August.

Anyone with an undergraduate degree and 50 per cent marks will be eligible for the course.

“Selection will be on the basis of performance in aptitude test, group discussion and two rounds of interviews,” said Banerjee.

On completion of the course, students will be placed. “The industry-academia partnership will help create a ready pool of productive talent, especially at a time when the insurance sector is in need of experts,” said Judhajit Das, the chief human resources of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.