Irdai Chairman Highlights Need for More Actuaries Amid RBC and IFRS Transition in India

India faces a significant shortage of qualified actuaries as it prepares to adopt risk-based capital (RBC) norms and align with international financial reporting standards (IFRS), according to Irdai Chairman Ajay Seth. With fewer than one fellow actuary per million people compared to higher ratios in the US and UK, the actuarial profession's membership has declined from around 12,000 in 2011 to about 9,700 in 2025. Seth emphasized the critical role actuaries play across life and general insurance sectors, especially amid challenges like inflation-adjusted returns, rising healthcare costs, climate risks, and cyber threats, calling for sustained capacity building to support India's financial protection framework and economic growth goals.