Technical round table_report

TECHNICAL ROUND-TABLE ON LIVESTOCK RISK MANAGEMENT

CHENNAI

26th February, 2010

Technical Round-Table on Livestock Risk Management

Executive Summary
The Technical Round-Table organised by the Centre for Insurance and Risk Management
(CIRM) was a pioneering effort to bring together various stakeholders in the livestock industry
and encourage face to face interactions and discussions on the challenges and innovations in the
sector. It was an attempt to provide an impartial platform for potential collaboration among
various livestock sector players to work together for the overall improvement in livestock
productivity.
This conference hosted key players from the livestock supply chain. Public insurers like the
United India Insurance, private players like ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd, HDFC-
ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd (ITGI) and TATA-
AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd; micro-finance institutions like SKS and India‟s largest credit
provider in agriculture National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD);
semi-government dairy service providers like National Dairy Development Board (NDDB);
private players like Dairy Network Enterprise (DNE); research institutions directly related to
dairying activities like Amul Research and Development Association (ARDA) and international
institutions like International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) which concentrates on
international experiments; government bodies like the District Rural Development Agency
(DRDA), Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and multilateral agencies like the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Bank were participants of this discussion.
This event helped to bring together major players of the livestock sector with maximum outreach
to discuss challenges and immediate needs of livestock risk management. Clearly visible were
the commitment and passion of the market and government, for a collective effort to provide a
sustainable tool to protect the poor against losses related to livestock. The participants discussed
various innovations that have been developed to counter the challenges. There were deliberations
on several issues that the players faced to bring about a complete package of solutions for cattle
owners. Many promising solutions were put forward, including community based insurance
schemes and risk reduction package bundling, such as those practised by DRDA, at
Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh and in Rajasthan by Pradan respectively.
Various efforts such as caulking the present gaps in the supply chain by DNE and
complementary risk transfer solutions by HDFC-ERGO were also discussed in detail.
Technological innovations like the use of internal Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) by
ITGI attracted a lot of attention. Compared to expensive solutions, other alternative options with
better processes such as using the traditional ear tag were well presented by NDDB and ARDA.
A collective decision for more focussed and concentrated effort for livestock risk management
was taken by the participants. To quote Pranav Prashad, Grant Officer, ILO, "Livestock Round-
Table organised by CIRM was indeed one step forward to direct Livestock Management in a
collective fashion. Hope to see more such efforts geared towards information sharing and
collective thinking which can motivate public and private sector to work together for overall
benefit of the industry". The Centre plans to host this event annually to trace the progress of
livestock risk management more closely in the coming years.


Introduction
CIRM organised a Technical Round-Table on 26th February, 2010 in Chennai to discuss the
challenges in livestock risk management - priority wise and to gauge how it can be solved in a
time-bound manner.

Different stakeholders in livestock related supply chains face different but inter-linked
challenges e.g. if vaccination or de-worming is not done in a proper and timely fashion it will
lead to higher mortality that will affect dairy as well as insurance companies. A lack of systemic
approach presents many issues that are either missed or neglected due to lack of knowledge. A
comprehensive approach to these challenges will help to solve them quickly and generate a
greater impact than thinly spread efforts. The Government-Industry-Academia collectively can
help to solve these challenges efficiently and effectively.

The Objective
The purpose of this event was to overview various issues, challenges and market observations in
the livestock industry and to discuss different models, processes and products to understand their
failures and successes. The aim was to start a comprehensive dialogue between dairy service
providers, credit agencies, insurers, government and academia on livestock risk management.

Livestock is an important source of household income for developing countries including India.
Approximately 100 million households are dependent upon livestock either as a primary or
secondary source of income in India. Animals face higher mortality in a tropical climate and due
to poor hygienic conditions. It renders animal husbandry business a risky proposition for low-
income households.

Lack of infrastructural facilities such as the shortage of fodder, water and milk collection points
such as cold chains, value processing units, quality inputs in the form of good semen, good
nourishment, animal health care and professionals like veterinarians remain big challenges.
These business risks in livestock rearing make it all the more important and necessary to ensure
that insurance is regarded and utilised as an efficient measure to provide safety to low income
households. After a 35 year long history of livestock insurance and with government effort, less
than 7% of insurable animals are covered against death risk.

There is a huge risk prone market in India which immediately needs livestock risk management
including insurance and other risk management solutions. The various market players – the credit
agencies that provide credit for the purchase of cattle, animal health care providers like
pharmaceutical companies, animal breeding centres, insurers, and community based
organisations are constrained by a lack of knowledge about the needs of the other supply chain
stakeholders.


In this context CIRM organised a one day event for discussion on:
Supply chain challenges in Livestock Risk Management: Operational and
Strategic issues
Requirements for bundled products: Bundling insurance with financial and non-
financial product),
Distribution channels and Comprehensive products: Products beyond death cover

The panellists discussed the stated themes keeping a systems view. The aim was to identify and
prioritise challenges in the massification of livestock risk management practices and micro-
insurance so as to evolve further strategy which can be helpful to de-risk the livestock sector in
India. Discussions were around challenges in valuation and identification of animals, risk
reduction and incentive system, the absence of bundled comprehensive products and
unwillingness and inability to pay for risk transfer.

Schedule of the Event
Session Time Title Speakers/Facilitators
9:00 - 9:15 am Registration
Rupalee Ruchismita,
9:15 - 9:30 am Introductory speech Executive Director, CIRM
A brief introduction by each participant, his Panellists were facilitated
Intro- organisation, challenges perceived by his by Pranav Prashad Grant
duction 9:30 - 11:30 am organisation on Livestock Risk Management Officer, ILO
11:30 - 11:45 am Break
Pranav Prashad, Grant
11:45 - 12:00 pm Presentation of discussion topics by Facilitator Officer, ILO
Supply Chain: Stakeholders in Livestock Andrew Mude, Economist,
Industry and Challenges (Discussion on all ILRI,
Session 1 12:00 - 1:15 pm possible distribution channels) Nairobi, Kenya
1:15 - 2:15 pm Lunch
Bundling of Insurance with financial and non- Alok Shukla, Head-
Session 2 2:15 - 3:30 pm financial products Livelihood, CIRM
3:30 - 3:45 pm Tea Break
Rupalee Ruchismita,
Executive Director, CIRM
and Anupama Sharma,
Session 3 3:45 - 5:00 pm Open Discussion Consultant, CIRM
Rupalee Ruchismita,
5:00 - 5:30 pm Summary CIRM


The Round Table had about 20 panellists from Insurance Companies, Dairy Service Providers,
Credit Institutions, Government and the Academia.

Proceedings
The programme commenced with welcome for the delegates and other participants by Rupalee
Ruchismita, Executive Director CIRM. She briefed the participants on the day‟s schedule, the
aim and objective of the Conference, and a brief background on Livestock Risk Management.

Three detailed sessions followed. They were on challenges in the supply chain, bundling of
services and other issues related to the livestock risk management services were discussed.

Session 1: Supply Chain Challenges

This session involved 3 stakeholders: the insurers, credit facilitators and dairy service providers.
Each formed a group to discuss the problems and challenges they faced in reaching out to the
end client.

Groups

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Mr. VE Kaimal (DGM, United
India Insurance) and Dr. Dr. A V Patel Dr. S K Pandey
Purushothaman (UII) (Head, ARDA) (Senior Manager, NDDB)
Mr. Parameshwaran Mr. Avishek Gupta (Team Mr. Pranav Prashad
(Regional Manager, HDFC ERGO) Member, DNE) (Grant Officer, ILO)
Ms. Neha Aggarwal Mr. Vasudeva Rao Mr. Vijay Kalavakonda
(Product Head, (Programme Director, (Senior Insurance Specialist,
ICICI Lombard) DRDA, Vizianagaram, A.P.) World Bank)
Mr. K. Gopinath Dr. S B Khadilkar
(Head- Rural and Coperatives, (Joint Programme Director, Mr. Vinod Kumar
IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance) BAIF) and Dr. Raviraj Jadhav (Asst. Vice President, SKS)
Mr. Shubham Mittal Mr. Sanjay Sharma Dr. C R Kanavikar
(Business Development Manager, (Head Dholpur Branch, (Asst. General Manager,
TATA-AIG) Pradan) NABARD)

Session Summary

The insurers highlighted the identification of animals as being the biggest challenge they faced,
and when coupled with poor infrastructure made it difficult for them to scale insurance services.
CIRM in its earlier report “Livestock Insurance: Experiences from India” has highlighted that
identification of animals is operationally difficult and a costly affair for insurers. Indian markets
have typically used the external ear tag for identification. This is a reasonably cheap but fragile


way to identify the animal. Though many methods have been tried and tested by the market for
cattle identification, none of them provide an effective solution. Technologically advanced
products like RFID are more authentic but their commercial viability remains a major concern
for insurers.

The problem of limited infrastructure such as the lack of veterinarians and animal health care
services provided by government and delay in issuance of health certificates during enrolments
and the subsequent delay in risk coverage was also highlighted during the session. Insurers
expressed that post mortem reports and fraudulent claims were the claim servicing challenges.
The percentage of frauds though small, were instrumental in causing an overall time delay for
claim settlements. The question of valuation of cattle and related moral hazards were also raised.
The need and importance of standard valuation chart for animals was highlighted.

The Credit Facilitators stated that the major stakes related to the reputations of their
organisations. They had to face the risk of lack of proper identification of the animal against
which they provided a loan. There were instances when the community prevented the credit
facilitator from making a thorough check. The lack of a standard valuation chart for cattle MFIs
have to depend on the value quoted by the cattle owner.

Apart from challenges, the credit facilitators also discussed the other models which could be
used to offer formal credit. The suggestion was to use community organisations for process
improvement and to use the postal service system as a channel for credit distribution.
Community organisations that could employ self regulations to maintain an efficient system were
thought to be one of the best methods for fraud reduction, and a consensus emerged that risk
reduction services are necessary. Some of the MFIs offer health care facilities but these are not
properly utilised by customers. Therefore, customer education is crucial for market expansion.

The participants also identified the idea of the creation of a mortality fund. This fund could be
used for claims payment in case of mortality. However the legality constraints of such a fund
need to be considered.

The Dairy Service Providers focussed on productivity related challenges. Production problems
were compounded by a lack of veterinary infrastructure in the villages. Poor health care system,
economic non-viability of feed and fodder and the lack of good Artificial Insemination (AI)
facilities are some of the major problems for the livestock sector. It was observed that poor
hygiene and crude shelters in rough terrain hinder the health and well being of the animals. Daily
income fluctuations due to bad marketing channels to transfer milk cause a loss in monetary
value. The milk suppliers have to bear all the losses without being compensated.

The Dairy Service Providers agreed that MFIs and banks do come forward with credit
availability for farmers; but the farmer is not always in a position to avail this facility. At times


the credit availability is linked to insurance and occasionally to other services. To improve the
veterinary infrastructure, the use of para-vet system for animal health care was discussed. Dairy
service providers highlighted that para-vets should be seen as social entrepreneurs. There were
reservations with regard to this concept and regulations of the Veterinary Council of India (VCI).

The session concentrated around fool proof innovations such as the unique identification of
animals and a standard valuation chart to enable market players to operate without hindrance,
complaint or fear of fraud. Community based institutions such as federations and cooperatives
linked to provide the infrastructural and administrative support were considered to be beneficial
to all as it would actively involve the community. Risk reduction measures and government
support for infrastructure were the important pillars for any successful programme related to
livestock management.

Session 2: Bundling of Services

A question was raised. It was asked if insurance should be provided as a standalone product
or if it should be bundled with financial or non-financial services?

The participants were divided into three groups. However, unlike the earlier discussion, they
were randomly picked to form three groups.

Group

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Dr. S. K. Pandey Mr. Vinod Kumar Mr. Avishek Gupta
Mr. Vijay Mr. Shubham Mittal Mr. Pranav Prasad
Mr. V. E. Kaimal and Dr.
Ms. Neha Aggarwal Purushothaman Mr. Parmeshwaran
Dr. Amrish Patel Dr. C. R. Kanavikar Mr. Sanjay Sharma
Dr. Shrikant Khadilkar and Dr. Raviraj
Mr. K. Gopinath Mr. Vasudevan Jadhav

Session Summary

Most of the participants agreed that insurance is not the only solution for the risk management
problem and that it needs to be provided along with other services. The discussion centred on
whether it should be bundled with financial products such as credit and savings or non financial
products such as risk reduction and extension services.

Issues such as bundling of personal accident cover with livestock insurance, credit linked
insurance products; provisions of a mandatory risk reduction package with insurance to the cattle
owner and enforcement of compulsory products education by the government were also


discussed in detail. Dairy service providers requested that insurance be made attractive to the
farmers and also urged that the premium amount be lowered. Insurers called for proper cattle
identification to reduce frauds and asked intermediaries like the dairy cooperatives and MFIs to
install proper mechanisms to reduce fraud. Credit agencies also voiced concern about the lack of
awareness with regard to insurance and risk reduction measures among the rural populace which
placed their credit portfolio for cattle lending at risk. The benefits of bundling were considered
by all the market players and there was enthusiasm to adopt better bundled products in the future.

Financial and Insurance literacy for the intermediaries and the end client were thought to be the
key enhancer for a better uptake of all kind of products. CIRM also highlighted that making the
process easy at the front end while delivering bundled products will play an important role in
attracting the lower quintile to come forward to accept the formal risk management and getting
into the loop. CIRM also put forward its point to move towards better comprehensive covers
(products that cover more than death) which will be better value for money for cattle owners.
The Centre also stressed using risk reduction as a compulsory bundling for cattle insurance.

Session 3: Open Discussion

The final session was the Open Discussion. The panellists identified important themes in the
sector that needed special attention. Two critical issues that most panellists felt needed to be
discussed at greater length were the

Identification problem focussing on present models and cost sharing
Process innovations
o Focussing on community involvement - to reduce moral hazard and adverse
selection
o Easy claims process and the use of para-vets as proxy to vets and the related
legality issues

Session Summary

Cattle Identification: Insurers began the discussion about the identification problem. The
emphasis of the discussion was on the proper identification of animals and its importance in
removing fraud and to speed up the claims process. The insurers were of the opinion that there
should be National Level Agency which would provide unique identification to all the animals
irrespective of whether they are insured or not. The participants also said that it will help
formulate better AI and risk reduction related strategies.

Various other methods for the identification of animals, their benefits and challenges were
discussed during the session.


The use of technology like RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device), its cost
implications and the response of the community to new technology were some of the
concerns raised by the dairy service providers and insurers. Though RFID was thought to
provide the unique identification, it was still considered an expensive and time
consuming method and not everyone was convinced about its use. A consensus emerged
that the experiments of using more technology was more relevant in areas where the loss
ratio is high and that it would not work for the entire country.
The use of improved quality traditional ear tags with better processes was discussed.
Though some of the players were of the opinion that it was good to use new technologies,
some of them highlighted that identification and related fraud are process problems and
that it began when the person who had the duty to ear tag the animal does not tag the
animal himself. Instead, he hands over it to the farmers to implement it. If we use an
effective and more vigilant process the issue of fraud could be solved completely.
Cattle identification and physiological parameters such as temperature recording is done
simultaneously as done by using Zigbee were raised. They discussed that technology and
the process for identification need to complement each other, along with capturing data
for risk reduction to ensure complete risk management. Here too, cost and time were
constraints according to the panellists.

Data warehousing: As historical data on cattle insurance and other animal health care
parameters is not available in a usable form, it is important to store data in a specific format. This
data should be accessible to everyone.

Cost sharing: As cattle insurance is considered to be a transaction heavy business and hence
loss making, the panel suggested that animals be registered in a particular month i.e. have a
closed enrolment. There can be specific days for insurance registration when camps can be
organised for the purpose. It would reduce transaction costs and since the registration would be
done before the village, cases of fraud would also reduce as everyone will be informed and
aware about those who are insured.

Testing different models: The Velugu model used by DRDA at Vizianagaram was discussed at
great length and the process efficiency and financial layering of the model were found to be
attractive features by all the panellists. Process support and ownership from the point of
identification and valuation of animal up to the enrolment process is important. However,
insurers claimed that it is not possible for their staff to do all the detailed work and said that
institutions like Dairy Network Enterprise could fill these gaps, and therefore should come
forward to support by providing vaccines, technology and customised software. Providing risk
reduction packages to the cattle owners will not only help in reducing the mortality of animals
but will also enhance the productivity of animals with good health care.


Conclusion

The day ended on the note to solve fraud related issues and the need to bring in process
modification, which could be bundled with improved ID technologies. The participants agreed
that:

Unique identification is compulsory and a National Level Agency should be created to
solve this problem for insurers, dairy service providers and credit providers for cattle.
There is a need for Community based models to reduce fraud and to reduce the
transaction costs.
Better processes innovations are required to bring about efficiency and sustainability in
the system.
Insurance and Financial literacy is a non-negotiable factor and there are two possible
ways suggested by all market players.
o Government mandates the insurers, MFIs and service providers to educate the end
clients on the concept as well as financial products.
o All market players to come together in a system and divide the work among them.
Bundling of insurance with credit is there to stay but better insurance products with risk
reduction services need to reach the market and provide for a complete risk management
tool to cattle owners.

Way Forward:
CIRM plans to hold this event regularly. The Centre also plans to keep a watch on new
innovations in the field and collective efforts of various players in the sector on regular basis and
to disseminate these innovations through publications.

Rupalee Ruchismita, Executive Director, CIRM concludes, “The enthusiastic dialogue and the
follow-up commitments made at the LRT, has encouraged CIRM to set up a Livestock
Management Network (LMN). We hope the LMN will leverage its member capacities to
undertake innovative pilot projects to trigger improved risk management practises in the
industry.”


PROFILE OF THE PANELLISTS

Dr. C.R. Kanavikar
General Manager, NABARD
Dr. Kanavikar has worked for 27 years in NABARD and presently handles the animal husbandry
department.

Mr. V. E. Kaimal
Deputy General Manager, United India Insurance Co. Ltd.
Mr. Kaimal has been working in area of micro-insurance and has achieved expertise in the area
of livestock insurance.

Dr. Amrish Patel
CEO, AMUL Research and Development Association (ARDA)
Dr. Amrish Patel for the last three years has been the Chief Executive Officer at Amul Research
and Development Association (ARDA), a sister concern of Amul dairy, which is engaged in the
improvement of animal husbandry practices. He has earned his veterinary degree from Anand
Veterinary College, Gujarat and his Masters from the same college in the field of Animal
Breeding and Genetics. He has worked as a breeder with ARDA for three years during his initial
career and later on worked in various capacities with different organisations including UNAID
programme for the Government of Ethiopia.

Mr. K. Gopinath
Asst Vice President, ITGI
Mr. Gopinath currently serves as Head, Rural and Co-operatives at IFFCO- TOKIO General
Insurance Company. His responsibilities include developing rural markets for IFFCO TOKIO in
terms of identifying the demand for insurance products, designing new products and delivery
processes and to monitor its marketing and profitability for long term growth. He has won an
ILO innovation grant for a project on cattle insurance titled “Loss mitigation in cattle insurance
through RFID technology.” He has more than 20 years of experience in the Insurance industry
with extensive experience in claims, underwriting and marketing.

Dr. Srikant Khadilkar
Joint Programme Director, BAIF Research Foundation
Dr. Khadilkar is Joint Programme Director at BAIF. He has been with BAIF for the past 21
years. He started with Integrated Rural Development Programme which concentrated on
agriculture, livestock, human health and watershed management. He has handled more than 15
projects and one of the projects was related to community based health insurance which is still
successful in BAIF operated areas.


Mr. H. Parmeswaran
Regional Manager, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Co. Ltd
Mr Parmeswaran is an MBA from the Madurai Kamaraj University and has sales experience of
more than 20 years in FMCG, white goods, telecom and insurance industries. He has been
working for the last five years in the field of insurance that focusses on the rural sector. He has a
great interest to work with NGOs and worked on a couple of projects as a student. His long term
dream is to start an NGO which supports higher education for economically backward people.
He has a special interest in human rights.

Mr. G. Vasudeva Rao
Project Director, DRDA, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
He is Project Director, DRDA, Vizianagaram the implementing agency for the World Bank
supported District Poverty Initiatives/Rural Poverty Reduction Programme. At DRDA he has
significantly contributed in increasing bank linkage and strengthening community based
insurance models in Vizianagaram. Before joining DRDA he worked as Administrative Officer,
Assistant Director and Deputy Director in the Medical & Health Department, from 1995 to 2002.
He has received three gold medals and one silver medal by His Excellency the Governor of
Andhra Pradesh and was also awarded Bharat Vikas Ratna by All India Business Development
Association, New Delhi.

Mr. Shubham Mittal
Manager, TATA AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd.
Shubham Mittal represents Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd. He has 3 years of
experience in general insurance and handles the Business Development and Operations and
Systems activities for the Rural and Social Vertical of Tata AIG. He is B.Tech in Computer
Science and has done MBA in Finance from XLRI Jamshedpur. He has undertaken various
projects in General Insurance such as Direct Marketing, Agency Recruitment and Document
Management. He has travelled extensively in Rural India and supports the Pan-India Rural Team
of Tata AIG in Livestock & Health Insurance. He has helped establish the Pan-India service
network for livestock insurance among other initiatives. He loves adventure sports like
paragliding, surfing, trekking and rock climbing. His heart is in social service.

Mr. Sanjay Sharma
Head, Dholpur Branch, PRADAN
Mr. Sanjay Sharma is a Ford Foundation International Fellowship Awardee (2006-08). He has
completed his B.Tech from the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He has provided
Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), Dholpur, Rajasthan, India in his


capacity of team leader since 2002 in the livestock sector. He worked as Consultant for Brandeis
University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Waltham, MA. He is the
Recipient of the Heller Sustainable International Development Scholarship 2006-2008 and
received FINCA Summer Research Fellowship to conduct research in Cambodia in 2007. He has
formulated, designed, implemented and supervised livelihood-based projects under the District
Poverty Initiative Projects (D.P.I.P.) funded by the World Bank in collaboration with the Govt.
of Rajasthan, India.

Ms. Neha Aggarwal
Product Head, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd.
Ms. Agarwal is an MBA who has specialised in Rural Management from Institute of Rural
Management, Anand (IRMA) in 2005. From 2005 till 2009, she handled Pan India Weather
Insurance business in ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd. From 2009 she has been handling all the rural
products excluding health and accident for ICICI Lombard.

Dr. S. K. Pandey
Senior Manager, National Dairy Development Board
Dr. S. K Pandey is a MVSc (Medicine) from CSA University of Agri & Tech Kanpur and has
more than 27 years of experience in NDDB. He has worked in various groups of the NDDB
such as the Farmers Organisation, Regional Co-ordination, Management Services, Productivity
Enhancement and Animal Health. He has worked across the country and has wide exposure to
the functioning of co-operatives, Management of Technical Inputs, and was also involved in
policy making in Animal Health.

Mr. Avishek Gupta
Team Member, Dairy Network Enterprise
Avishek currently works with a dairy supply chain company, Dairy Network Enterprise (DNE)
being incubated by IFMR Ventures. For the last two years he has been working with multiple
players in the dairy sector to understand the gaps in the dairy supply chain and to develop
customised financial products and technology to meet the needs of enterprises to enable them to
grow faster. He has been involved with the development and operationalisation of the electronic
backend which plugs a key gap in the dairy supply chain and makes risk management at the
dairy farmer level affordable by allowing entities like NGOs/dairies/MFIs to access high quality
support at a nominal price. Avishek is a rural management graduate and a post graduate dairy
technologist by education.


Mr. K. Vinod Kumar
Assistant Vice President, SKS India
Mr. Vinod Kumar is currently working with SKS as Assistant Vice President-Member Services.
At SKS he manages operations in A.P., Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and
Orissa. Before joining SKS he has had varied experience with well known companies such as
Siemens Telecom Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Max New York Life Co, ING Life Insurance Ltd.

Dr. Andrew Mude
Economist, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
Dr. Andrew Mude graduated summa cum laude with a major in Economics and a minor in
Mathematics and French from the Gettysburg College, Pennslyvania in 1999. Dr. Mude joined
Cornell University, New York in 2000 for his doctoral degree in Economics concentrating in the
area of Developmental Economics and Applied Econometrics. He obtained his PhD in June,
2006. As part of his dissertation, Dr. Mude spent six-months studying coffee producers and their
cooperatives in Murang‟a district Kenya. For this effort he won the silver medal at the 2007
Global Development Network. Upon completion of his doctoral degree in Economics, Dr. Mude
joined ILRI in August 2006 as Economist at ILRI‟s Targeting and Innovations Program.

Mr. Vijay Kalavakonda
Senior Insurance Specialist, Insurance for the Poor Program, World Bank
Vijay Kalavakonda works for the Insurance for the Poor Program, which is part of the Financial
and Private Sector Development Department of the World Bank. Since joining the World Bank
in 1999 he has worked in a number of areas including a) Natural Disaster Risk Management
Programs in Turkey, Mexico, the Caribbean‟s and India; b) Agriculture insurance including
weather-index insurance in Central America, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey; and c)
Health Insurance in India, and East Africa. He is presently currently engaged with developing
“Access to Insurance for the Working Poor” programme, popularly known as microinsurance.
He was involved with developing one of the biggest microinsurance schemes in the World,
which insures more than 2 million poor women and their dependents. He has several Post
Graduate Degrees. They are in diverse fields such as a) Biotechnology; b) Business
Administration; and c) European Social Security respectively. He is also a certified Health
Insurance Associate and Managed Health Care Professional.

Mr. Pranav Prashad
Grant Officer, MIF-ILO
Pranav Prashad, is a business manager with more than 21 years experience in various sectors. He
has worked in organisations like Heinz and Tata Tele Services. His experience ranges from
consumer products, telecom to insurance. He graduated with honours in Economics and holds a
Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University,


India. In his earlier assignment with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, he was
responsible for the expansion of the company's rural footprint and relevant products. He
developed the organisation's micro insurance plans and implemented large programmes in index
based weather insurance and rural health

Ms. Rupalee Ruchismita
Executive Director, Centre for Insurance and Risk Management
Rupalee is the founding head of the Centre for Insurance and Risk Management (CIRM) at
IFMR; a technical group, which provides micro insurance expertise to the sector. An alumnus of
the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she has worked with the Social Initiatives Group (SIG), a
grant and research making group within the ICICI Bank. Her work has been in the field of
Financial Inclusion. She has also been involved in developing „Catalytic Infrastructure‟ and is
engaged in „Policy Advocacy‟ in the microfinance sector to ensure sustainable development of
the microfinance sector. She has worked in developing micro-health insurance products for
community institutions.

Mr. Alok Shukla
Head - Livelihood Vertical, CIRM
Alok Shukla brings with him strong analytical skills and business perspectives of the weather
insurance industry in India. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.
On graduation, he joined Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), a leading Indian
weather insurance broker company supported by the Incubation Centre of IIT Kanpur. At
WRMS, he handled trading and underwriting functions in the capacity of Vice President. In his
three years at WRMS, he touched almost all types of weather products offered in India. His key
areas of interest are OTC products and product packaging.

Dr. Anupama Sharma
Consultant - Livelihood Vertical, CIRM
Dr. Anupama is a graduate in B.V.Sc & A.H. from Choudhary Charan Singh Haryana
Agriculture University in Hissar, Haryana. She is the holder of a merit scholarship of the
University for Academic Excellence throughout her graduation. On completion, she did her Post
Graduation Diploma in Rural Management (PRM) from Institute of Rural Management, Anand.
Presently, she is involved in looking at challenges involved in livestock insurance product as
well as processes which hinder the reach of livestock insurance to low-income households.

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