The positive energy around him creates a conducive environment for any professional to deliver his best. His jovial and grounded behaviour makes him an approachable boss. He started from scratch, and with his hard work, he made it big. The courtesy that he extends can win hearts and his relationship management has taken him to greater heights in his career.
One of the most important attributes for a Sales professional to be successful is to have great “people skills”, and this holds true for Mr. Rajat Jain, Associate Vice President- Business Procurement and Micro Insurance at Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited. Mr.Jain began his career in Sales way back in 2001. He completed his schooling from DPS and graduation from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce.
He took every challenge that came his way with a smile and this positive approach towards work helped land him where he is today. Presently, Mr. Jain is a highly skilled financial service professional with more than 10 years of work experience with leading corporations, having hands-on experience of working in the life insurance industry, mutual fund industry, and large distribution houses of international repute. He is a smart, hardworking, and cheerful person, and most of his colleagues love his company. For this IIPM 2001 pass-out, his corporate journey started with Dundee Mutual Fund as a Management Trainee where he was a part of channel sales team looking after the distribution network. From there on, there was no looking back for him as he worked with his first organization for one year and then he moved on to HDFC Standard Life Insurance for two years as a Business Development Manager in the tied channel team. He had a team of 50 financial service consultants and achieved the number one position for north India in terms of revenue for the company. Thereafter, he worked as a Senior Sales Manager for Kotak Life Insurance for another one year. While climbing the corporate career ladder, he reached the position of Senior Area Manager with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. Mr. Jain also got a promotion in the first appraisal at ICICI Prudential and his passion for his work got him the current position with Bajaj Allianz. At Allianz, he is taking care of Business Development and Acquisitions for North and Central India and is one of the founding members of this vertical here. He has structured a lot of deals with partners that have a national and regional footprint for the distribution of retail and group products.
His colleagues feel that he is an asset to any organisation as Mr. Jain has exceptional negotiation skills. This is reflected in the quality and quantity of business generated by his team. Mr. Jain says that his corporate journey has been really good, even though he had to struggle in the initial years as one has to learn what the industry is about. He remembers his days at IIPM and acknowledges the fact that the institute trained him well and he had a beautiful experience during the two years that he spent on campus.
Mr. Jain’s definition of a real sales person is “the one who is a go-getter, as the insurance industry is a tough and highly competitive industry”. There are close to twenty players in the life insurance business in India and all of them offer products and services which are competitive. In his opinion, to survive in the insurance sector, one must be a fighter, and he/she should be able to compete with the other 10 to 12 players in the market, and must also have the ability to drive numbers and think in an analytical manner.
During his time at college, his peers and him went through many changes in their lives and personalities. First, they studied at the campus in Qutab Institutional Area and then moved to the Mandi campus. He loved the culture of IIPM and had the most amazing time being taught by the faculty at the campus. Their batch went to Switzerland for its GOTA trip and they were lucky as Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri accompanied them for the trip. He is still in touch with all his batchmates and catches up with them often. Mr. Jain says that classrooms are definitely different from workstation s but his experience of campus recruitments made him realise that IIPM had prepared its students well mentally for the corporate world.
Mr. Jain attributes his success to the hard work he has put in. Prof. Chaudhuri has always been a great inspiration for him personally and he looks up to him a lot. Not only is Prof. Chaudhuri a great orator, his management thoughts and practices have taught Mr. Jain many lessons. Mr. Jain’s father has also played a very important role in his life by creating the right king of value structure in him. His current boss Mr. Yogesh Gupta is his key mentor and he has been working with him for the last six to seven years. Mr. Gupta started this vertical at Bajaj and they have covered over 40 lakh lives till now, the highest number in the world in the micro insurance sector.
NOT ONLY IS PROF. CHAUDHURI A GREAT ORATOR, HIS MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS HAVE INFLUENCED MR. JAIN
Mr. Jain has a “leading” style of leadership. He feels that a leader should guide his/her colleagues, discuss problems with them, and drive them towards the right direction. This helps them achieve what they want to and it keeps employees motivated and efficient.
He has handled a team of 50 people and he continues to be in touch with most of his earlier team members. Some of his team mates have joined the organisation with him and they want to continue working with him as long as they can.
His take on global exposure comes from his IIPM days, where the GOTA trip gave him an orientation towards the way in which global markets work but it did not connect the individuals to the corporates. Bajaj Allianz employees visit seminars nationally and internationally for studying micro insurance and other industry trends. Recently, the team was in Singapore for a conference.
In Mr. Jain’s opinion, there is a huge opportunity in India in terms of this industry. If one looks closer at the industry in India, one will realise that in terms of GDP, any developed country has close to eight to nine per cent of its population covered by insurance, whereas the Indian insurance sector has only three to four per cent penetration. This gap is huge, and keeping in mind India’s huge population, the numbers are staggering. Another point of difference in India is that in any developed country there are almost 200 players whereas in India, there are only about twenty.
Commenting on the downfall in the insurance industry, Mr. Jain says that after a period of eight to ten years, any industry comes down as part of its regular business cycle. He also feels that the regulators in India made a correct move in controlling the market well so that it did not go out of control; the only issue was that it was too abrupt and sudden. He also feels that the regulator does not have all the resources to make the changes overnight as even they require a huge team. This is happening in India because there are very few actuaries here. Most of them are abroad so product designing becomes difficult for the company as well as the regulator.
To the fresh graduates from IIPM, our alumnus suggests, “Study hard, get good grades, and get your basics in place,” as the future ahead is very bright and full of opportunities. He feels that students from IIPM will definitely succeed in their lives as they have some of the best faculty and course curriculum to back them up.
If not here, Mr. Jain would have been with any finance company or probably with an asset management organisation or a bank, he tells us.
When not working, he likes to read and travel to new places with his family, and spend time with them. He has two children, Adit and Rhea, and his wife, Neha Jain, a professor, has recently completed her PhD from IIT Delhi. We wish this wonderful family all the success and joy for the future.
