Policy matters

Talking about the series,Mishra says,”This is a part of the project undertaken by UK-India education Research Institute (UKIERI) that has been conceptualised by the Manmohan Singh Government and the Gordon Brown office. While Leeds Metropolitan Institute is the UK partner of the project,NIA is the only institute from India to have been involved in the venture.”

Mishra who also went to UK for the project,came in contact with researchers from Financial Service Authority (FSA),who introduced him to the concept of such a series of books for the layman titled- Money Made Easy. “I was impressed by the content and thought that such books have to be introduced in the Indian market as well. I came back and shared the idea of such a series with the Insurance Regulation and Development Authority (IRDA) and the concept was well received,” adds Mishra.

With inputs from IRDA and NIA researchers along with expert comments from MBA students of Columbia University and students of John Hopkins,Baltimore,the series of 14 books – 10 for beginners and four for experts give an in-depth insight about the minutest aspect of general as well as life insurance. “The 10 books start from basics of life insurance thereby going ahead to cover aspects such as- how to settle claims,how to work as an insurance agent or for that matter,which companies to consider while going for an insurance policy and so on,” adds Mishra,who also claims that this is the Encyclopedia for them who want to buy policies as well as for those who want to work as insurance professionals.

The four books designed for professionals or advanced learners include complete information about tariff advisory committee,medical informatics along with a detailed analysis about the risk management of insurance companies and changed approaches towards insurance in general. Adds Mishra,”Post 9/11,over 18 insurance companies in the US closed down just because- they did not have any risk management plan in place for themselves. In order to prevent Indian companies from facing the same,one of the books includes an in depth study of the phenomenon.The book is named as Insurance Reloaded,” smiles Mishra.

Published by Sengage Learning,the books along with India are also released in countries such as Australia,UK,USA,Japan,Korea,Singapore and Brazil with customised information from country to country according to the rules and regulations of respective places. With over 8,000 copies sold across the globe,the publishers are now demanding for a second edition,adds Mishra.

With talks of writing an Insurance Classic currently on with one of the major worldwide publishers,Mishra says,”Four international insurance classics have been written in the world till date. The publishers are expecting this one to be better than them all.”

Well,given the fact that the first ever series on the insurance books was well received by readers from across the globe,the success of the classic,it seems,is already insured.