Speaking to The Financial Express, outgoing director PS Palande said that the academy planned to expand its capacity in terms of the number of professionals it is training and the areas of training.

The academy, established in 1980 as an independent non-profit organisation, trains around 2,000 middle- and senior-level executives of the insurance industry and private corporates every year

The institute, which received the `educational service provider' award for its standard of service in insurance training in Asia last year, is effecting changes to continue its quality in the future, Palande said.

``Many Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs), which are launching new courses on insurance, have approached us to impart training to the students,'' Palande added.

It is not enough to educate the insuring public about just conventional risks. They have to be educated to understand new risks and new insurance coverages and global insurance practices, Palande said.

For the last few years, the academy has been organising programmes for customers. During 1999-2000, it is offering four insurance-management programmes for customers. The process of new product development for insurance users is facilitated by free interactions among the paticipants.

"The intention is to mainitain a constant interface and symbiotic relationship with domestic and international markets,'' Palande said.

Among the new issues, the insurance management of infrastructure projects provides an insight into risk management and international funding of infrastructure projects.

The training about power plants' insurance includes dealing with the management of risks of the power plants--thermal, hydro, nuclear or any other source of producing power.

The academy trains insurance managers for aviation, satellite and nuclear risk awareness and control. The objectives of the academy include consultancy and other advisory services to life and general insurance business, to promote and conduct research on problems of insurance managment, and training and development of insurance personnel.

Apart from the partcipation of executives from the insurance industry in the country, the academy has been receiving partcipants from overseas companies, mainly from the developing nations. Approximately, 630 middle- and senior-level executives from about 50 countries, including Australia, Singapore, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, and Phillipines, have so far been trained.

Jointly set up by the Life Insurance Corporation and the General Insurance Corporation and its four subsidiaries, the academy is managed by a governing board, comprising persons from the insurance industry, the Government, and experts in finance and management education.