Page 40 - The Insurance Times November 2025

Interview

"The overall industry seems

to have understood the

need to change the

attitude from selling what

it has to what the customer

needs. This realization has

led to the development of

add-ons and modular

products which are quite

flexible in nature."

Samiran Lahiri

Executive Director & CEO
Preferred Partners Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.

About Mr. Lahiri A passionate academic at heart, Mr. Lahiri is deeply
Mr. Samiran Lahiri is widely regarded as one of India's most committed to mentoring and teaching. He is associated with
accomplished insurance professionals and consultants, known premier management institutions including IIM Calcutta, IIM
for his strategic insight, deep technical acumen, and Bangalore, and BIMTECH, where he serves as visiting faculty/
exemplary leadership across diverse domains of the insurance guest faculty, sharing his extensive industry experience and
and financial services industry.He began his career in 1987 as fostering the next generation of business leaders.
a Direct Recruit Officer with The Oriental Insurance Company
Ltd., marking the start of a distinguished professional journey Q: According to you, what has been the marked change
that has spanned over three decades. Over the years, Mr. in underwriting attitude/scenario of the General Insurers
Lahiri has held several prominent leadership positions both in of India in modern times?
India and overseas - including Chief Operating Officer at A: In exclusively public sector times, anyone in the
Rainbow Insurance, Mauritius; President - Financial Products mainstream insurance irrespective of the level of office used
Distribution at Peerless Developers Ltd.; and Chief Executive to be trained at least as a general underwriter, if not a
Officer at Asia Meditech Solutions, Nepal. Since 2015, he has specialist underwriter of a particular line of business. If I may
been steering Preferred Partners Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd. elaborate, at a Branch office level, the Assistant, Senior
as its Executive Director and CEO, driving the firm's growth, Assistant, AAO and the Branch Manager used to underwrite
innovation, and client-centric excellence.An alumnus of Motor, Fire, Marine Cargo, Miscellaneous and Rural lines of
Jadavpur University, Mr. Lahiri holds a bachelor's degree in business relatively easily and freely subject to their
Economics, followed by a postgraduate degree from the underwriting limits and occasional help from the Divisional
distinguished Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP) office.
at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) - one of India's most
reputed schools of economics. So was the case in Divisional offices where there used to be

36 November 2025 The Insurance Times