STANDARD INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDELINES
APPLICABLE FOR APPROVAL/RENEWAL OF AGENTS TRAINING
INSTITUTES APPROVED/TO BE APPROVED BY THE AUTHORITY
These
instructions/guidelines are applicable to all the training institutes including
in-house training institutes of the insurers.
These guidelines will be effective
1.
The
applicant shall have to undergo at least 100 hours’ practical training in life
or general insurance business which may be spread over three to four weeks,
where such applicant is seeking license for the first time to act as an
insurance agent. The approved training institutes
will cover the syllabus already prescribed by the Authority during this
period. In case of 50 hours of training,
the duration will be half as mentioned above.
2.
The
training duration should be minimum 18 working days
excluding Sundays and holidays with 6 hours per day excluding lunch and tea
break applicable for full time batches.
For part-time batches the training can be imparted 3 hours daily in the
evening excluding tea break and the minimum duration of the training will be 34
working days excluding Sundays and holidays.
3.
No
product training/market survey should be included into this hundred 100 hours
training. The product training, if any,
to be given by the insurance company should be over and above the minimum
training hours prescribed by the Authority.
However, the revision examination may form part of 100 hours of
training.
4.
The
attendance record of the trainees should be maintained at the Institute for
necessary inspection at any given point of time. The candidates should sign the attendance
register in his/her own hand-writing. It
will be the duty of the In-charge of the Institute to mark absent preferably
with red-ink. No relaxation in
attendance is permitted. The attendance
will be counter-signed by the faculty or in-charge of the training institute.
5.
In
case of short-fall of attendance, extra class may be permitted but the extra
hours may be specified separately with proper attendance and details of
faculty. The extra classes for the
shortfall in attendance, if any, can be held on Sunday or holiday during the
course of the training or after completion of 18 days of training.
6.
Every
Institute should have at least one qualified permanent faculty who is an
Associate or Fellow from the Insurance Institute of India for each stream i.e.
for Life and Non-Life. Those not fulfilling
this requirement will be required to obtain the above qualification within 2
years. However, the training institutes can
employ faculty with more than 15 years of service in the insurance company with
last three years in managerial capacity i.e. Divisional Manager and above in
the public sector insurance companies.
7.
The
attendance register of the faculty members should be maintained at the training
institutes. The faculty should sign the
attendance register in his/her own hand-writing
daily. It will be the duty of the
In-charge of the Institute to mark absent preferably with red-ink.
8.
The
record of the payment made to faculty should be maintained at the training
institute i.e. batch-wise payment detail should be maintained. In case the employment of the faculty is full
time, record of monthly wages/payment should be maintained.
9.
The
faculty should provide details of the other Institutes with whom they have been
empanelled as part-time/guest faculty. The
faculty must also inform the other Institutes of his/her leaving one institute
and joining any other training institute.
10.
The
sponsorship letter must be available with the training institute at the time of
commencement of training session. The
insurer should affix a photograph of on the sponsoring letter. The insurer should also put rubber-stamp of
the company across the photograph and Institute should keep the
record with them for inspection
purposes.
11.
Register
should be maintained at the training institute giving details of batches
completed, strength of the each batch, number of candidates decertified, name
of the sponsored insurer and details of faculty who imparted the training with
dates. The record of results of the
examination whether passed/failed recorded in the same register giving
details of date of examination and centre.
12.
The
seating capacity of each class-room should not exceed 40.
13.
The
fresh accreditation will be given on need basis after assessing the needs of
the particular city/town. This may not
apply to the in-house training institutes of the insurers.
14.
The
initial approval will be for a period of 3 years and consideration of further
renewal upto 3 years would depend on the satisfactory compliance of
requirements of accreditation.
15.
The
insurance companies would regularly send their officials to the
oversee the proper conduct of the training at the institutes and would
not sponsor candidates to those institutes that are not maintaining the
required standards of and facilities for the training. In-house training centres
will be subject to regular inspections and audit by the insurer concerned in
addition to officials of the Authority.
16.
The
training institute must display the certificate of accreditation to impart
training issued by the Authority at the training institute.
17.
The
Institute should not allow a franchisee to conduct courses on its behalf even
if the faculty is that of the Institute.
The Institute should conduct the training on its own premises or hired
premises with proper infrastructure.
18.
No
marketing fee/consultancy fee payment is permitted for getting the training
batches.
19.
Henceforth,
no temporary accreditation will be given by the Authority. The existing institutes, who have been
granted temporary accreditation shall cease to operate by
20.
It
will be the responsibility of the Insurance Company to check the status of the
institute before sponsoring any candidates for training. If name of the training institute is not
displayed on IRDA web-site, no insurer should sponsor the candidate for
training to such an institute.
21.
In
case of mofussil areas or the cities where there are
no accredited institutes and an insurance company intends to appoint agents, it
will be the responsibility of the insurance company to conduct training. The employed faculty only of the in-house
training centres may impart training at such
places. No temporary/guest faculty is
permissible for the in-house training centres of the
insurers.
22.
The
Institutes must keep with them one set of records of the training at the place
where the training is being imparted.
23.
No
accreditation will be given to the institutes that are imparting training in
the hotels. Fresh accreditation/renewal,
if any, will be granted by the Authority only to Institutes who are maintaining
good infrastructure and complying with all other requirements specified in the
application form for licence/renewal of the criteria of obtaining marks already
prescribed by the Authority in this behalf.
24.
The
Institute should confine its activities only to the place/city for which it has
been given the approval. No training
outside the said place/city is permitted.
The premises approved for the training shall not be used for any other
purposes i.e. the institute will have dedicated class-rooms which will not be
used for any other purposes even though the institute is not running any
training batch and if during the course of the inspection by the officials of
the Authority, it is found that the institute is not maintaining dedicated
class-rooms, the accreditation of the institute will stand cancelled without
giving any notice.
25.
The
Institutes must submit a copy of the lease deed/rent agreement at the time of
seeking fresh accreditation/renewal/change of address of the institute. No need-base agreement/arrangement for
conducting training will be accepted by the Authority. The Institutes will have to maintain dedicated
class-rooms during the tenure of the accreditation.
26.
The
Institutes that have not conducted any training during the last financial year
will not be considered for renewal.
27.
(i) The existing Institutes may convey their
willingness to abide by these instructions in the following form for each centre separately.
|
Name &
Address of the Institute (name of the city, State and Pin Code) |
Date of Accreditation of the
Institute |
Expiry date of
validity of the Accreditation |
Accreditation
granted for Life/General or both |
Copy of the
last accreditation certificate/ letter |
Name of the
In-charge of the Institute with telephone numbers, Fax number and e-mail
address |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(ii) The above information must reach the Authority within 15 days from the
date of issuance of these guidelines.
The consolidated list of approved training institutes will then be
placed on our web-site and updated from time to time so that Insurance
Companies can approach them for conduct of training.
28.
Prior
approval of the Authority must be obtained if the Training Institute intends to
change any of the particulars, details or provisions already approved by the
Authority. All such changes would be
simultaneously incorporated on IRDA web-site.
29.
Separate
draft guidelines will be issued for on-line training institutes.
30.
The
training institutes should impart training only to the prospective agents of the insurance
companies registered with the Authority.
A list of the registered insurance companies is available on the
web-site of the Authority (www.irdaindia.org).
31.
For 25/50 hours training requirement at the time of renewal of agency licences, no separate syllabus is proposed at this stage by
the Authority. The institutes may devise
the syllabus in consultation with the insurers which should include: -
·
New
regulations/notifications/circulars issued by IRDA [which affect intermediaries
or policyholders]
·
New
products introduced by the insurers in the market;
·
All
tax matters relating to and benefits accruing from such products.
·
Advanced
Sales Training
·
Services
which policyholders expect from agents and provisions of agents’ code of
conduct
·
Protection
of policyholders’ interests and grievance redressal mechanism.
·
Any
other item which the insurer may deem fit from time to time.
CHAIRMAN