Actuaries belong to the new breed of high growth professionals in the deregulated insurance firmament. They are number crunchers, who use sound statistical methods to study past trends, assess risks and extrapolate the financial outcome of long-term business decisions based on such uncertain parameters as life, death, accidents and attrition.

There are few actuaries around ? the pass out percentage in the qualifying exam is as low as 40 ? and they are highly specialised in data crunching. But they are in considerable demand in private life insurance and general insurance firms, pension funds, financial institutions, information technology companies and insurance consulting firms. “Actuarial science is a career whose time has come in India,” says Rajit Mehta, executive director (human resources), Max New York Life. The Gurgaon-based insurance firm employs 15 actuaries.

The outsourcing industry is one of the biggest recruiters of actuaries today. Over 100 actuaries work in business process outsourcing companies across the country, with some of the largest firms hiring up to 70 professionals. “When the insurance industry was opened in 2000, ancillary services came up, consulting firms set up shop and a host of actuarial jobs were outsourced to India,” says Liyaquat Khan, vice-chairman and chief actuary at Watson Wyatt, an insurance consulting firm.

So what does it take to be an actuary? To begin with, you need over 90 per cent marks in Class X and Class XII board examinations, and a first class in an honours degree in maths, statistics or economics from a reputed college. Equally important is a firm commitment to sustained study and hard work, after graduation, for a period of about seven years on an average. Besides, if you have sharp analytical skills, an adequate knowledge of computers, superb communication abilities, decision-making prowess and proven business acumen, you will certainly have a foot in the door.

Graduates, without any professional qualification in actuarial science, start off as trainees. Subsequently, their career graph depends solely on the pace at which they are able to clear the four stages of the fellowship exam conducted by the Actuarial Society of India (ASI), the only statutory body that holds examinations for actuaries in the country.

Typically, a student attempts not more than three papers at a time, and could take at least five years to complete the ASI course. “The examination is tough and the drop out rates are high,” says Melanie Puri, senior consultant at Watson Wyatt. Not surprising then that firms like Watson Wyatt and Max New York Life offer financial incentives and study leave in order to encourage student members to write more papers. Sometimes, the incentive could be as high as Rs 45,000 per paper.

Traditionally, actuaries have played crucial roles in the areas of insurance, pensions and investment. They have used probability theory, statistics, risk theory and principles of finance to calculate future risks, and their judgement is relied upon heavily to ensure financial security. For example, before an insurance company insures the health of an individual or issues a policy on a car, an actuary determines the risks of sickness or accidents that will result in claims, and then fixes a premium that will create adequate fund reserves to pay for the claims at a later date and still keep the profitability of the company intact.

Today, actuaries are also applying quantitative techniques to various business environments such as demographic and census studies, forecasting, banking and finance. “Their job is to predict future financial risks based on uncertainties and deferment,” explains K.C. Sethi, faculty member at the Amity School of Insurance and Actuarial Science. “Actuaries gain importance as the stakes get bigger,” he says.

Hence, students are queuing up to qualify.

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At the ASI, the total number of members has nearly doubled to 4,000 in the last two years. Riding high on the rush for actuaries, at least two private educational institutes ? Amity in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai ? have introduced two-year full-time courses in actuarial science, though the ASI is yet to acknowledge these and give them its approval.

The lure of the profession is understandable. Fresh graduates without a professional qualification could draw up to Rs 4 lakh per annum, while those with a couple of ASI papers in their bag could demand upwards of Rs 4.5 lakh. At the top, the sky is the limit. “Actuaries are among the highest-paid professionals in the world,” says Anuradha G, faculty member at NMIMS.

The actuarial profession also offers superior job security through economic cycles. The most important factor is that it provides skills that are transferable across multiple industries. Indeed, actuaries are well-suited for jobs in product management, risk management, underwriting and finance. “Some could even aspire for the top job as a chief financial officer or chief executive officer,” says Mehta of Max New York Life.

Yet a joint survey by consulting firm D.W. Simpson and the ASI early this year came up with a startling observation: though the number of students enrolling in the ASI is encouraging, apocryphal evidence suggests that many are taking the course without working in an actuarial environment and therefore, they could be at a disadvantage when it comes to passing exams and obtaining employment.

Aspiring actuaries, take note.