From our research
What this interview looks like
After the online Prelims and Mains, every public-sector insurer calls shortlisted candidates to a panel interview at a zonal or regional office. The panel is usually three to five senior officers of the company, often including a retired zonal or general manager and an HR officer, and lasts fifteen to twenty-five minutes in English or Hindi. They start with your introduction and why insurance, then test insurance concepts at the level a new officer must know: types of policies, IRDAI and its recent rules, underwriting, claims, solvency and the company's own position in the market. Specialist-stream candidates (IT, legal, chartered accountant, actuarial) get questions from their stream, and every candidate gets one or two from their own graduation subject. LIC ADO boards lean heavily on field selling: recruiting agents, handling objections, persistency and ethics. The interview typically carries a modest share of the final merit alongside Mains, with a minimum qualifying score, so a clear, honest and well-informed twenty minutes decides your rank. The ExamPilot mock compresses this into a fifteen-minute panel of introduction, concept round, two situations and a motivation close, scored on the same four things a real board weighs.
How it is weighted
Final merit combines the online test and the interview, with a minimum qualifying interview score; GIC Re publishes the split and any group-discussion component in each notification. The interview probes reinsurance concepts more deeply than any other insurance board.
Who this is for
Graduates, and for specialist streams the matching qualification (actuarial papers, CA or MBA Finance, LLB, engineering or IT degree, HR), who have cleared GIC Re's online test for Scale I officers. GIC Re is India's national reinsurer, headquartered in Mumbai, so most postings are at head office.
The panel focuses on
- Why insurers reinsure and how a treaty actually works
- Proportional versus non-proportional cover, retention and attachment point
- GIC Re's role as national reinsurer, obligatory cession and competition from foreign reinsurance branches
- Catastrophe exposure in India and how a reinsurer prices and limits it
- Finance, actuarial, legal or IT depth for the chosen stream
- Awareness of the global reinsurance market and recent Indian insurance news
Step 1
Pick your subject
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this post. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Mr. Vikram Malhotra
Hiring manager
Panel interview · 3 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni
HR member
Mr. Vikram Malhotra
Hiring manager
Shri Ramesh Chandra Tiwari
Hiring manager
What to expect
4 rounds · 15 minutes
An IBPS or SBI style board of senior bankers compressed into 15 minutes: introduction and background with the HR member, banking and financial awareness with a senior banker who also probes the candidate's own degree or specialisation, two branch situations on customers, fraud and targets, and a closing on mobility and long-term intent. The real board sits three to five members for 15 to 20 minutes, mixes Hindi and English freely, and scores out of 100 with a qualifying minimum.
- Round 1
Introduction & background
· 3:00Put the candidate at ease, understand their education, work and any gaps, and hear a credible reason for choosing banking after their degree.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Banking & finance awareness
· 5:00Test working knowledge of banking and current financial developments, and connect the candidate's own degree or specialisation to the work of a bank.
Mr. Vikram Malhotra3–4 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 3
Branch situations
· 4:00Assess customer handling, ethics under target pressure, and judgement on fraud and compliance in a branch setting.
Mr. Vikram Malhotra2–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
Motivation & closing
· 3:00Check willingness for rural posting and transfers, long-term intent in banking, and close politely without revealing any assessment.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni2–2 questions
Sample questions
Insurance Officer GIC Re AM interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the Insurance Officer GIC Re AM interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Reinsurance basics
Why do insurance companies buy reinsurance? Explain to a non-specialist using a cyclone example.
What a strong answer covers
Reinsurance spreads large or catastrophic risks, protects an insurer's capital, smooths results and lets it write more business than its own capacity allows. A cyclone that triggers thousands of claims at once is shared with reinsurers under treaties. Avoid confusing reinsurance with co-insurance, where insurers share a policy directly.
- Treaty types
What is the difference between a quota share treaty and an excess of loss treaty?
What a strong answer covers
Under quota share, the reinsurer takes a fixed percentage of every policy's premium and every loss. Under excess of loss, it pays only the part of a loss above the insurer's retention, up to a limit. A strong answer says which suits a growing portfolio and which protects against catastrophe. Avoid mixing the two up.
- Retention
Explain retention and attachment point, and how an insurer decides its retention level.
What a strong answer covers
Retention is the part of each risk or loss the insurer keeps for its own account; the attachment point is the loss level at which the reinsurance layer begins to pay. Retention depends on capital, risk appetite, portfolio size and volatility, and regulatory norms. Avoid vague definitions without a numerical illustration.
- Regulation
What is obligatory cession, and why does India have it?
What a strong answer covers
Obligatory cession requires Indian general insurers to cede a fixed share of each policy to the Indian reinsurer, GIC Re, to retain reinsurance capacity within the country. The percentage has been reduced over the years as the market opened up. A strong answer weighs capacity against competition. Avoid quoting a current percentage you are unsure of.
- Competition
Foreign reinsurers now operate branches in India. How does this affect GIC Re?
What a strong answer covers
More competition and pricing pressure on GIC Re, but also more capacity, expertise and product innovation in the Indian market. GIC Re retains advantages such as obligatory cession, the order of preference for Indian reinsurers and deep local knowledge. A balanced view sees both risks and benefits. Avoid calling it only a threat.
- Catastrophe risk
How would a reinsurer price catastrophe risk in a flood-prone region of India?
What a strong answer covers
Uses catastrophe models and hazard maps, historical flood losses adjusted for today's exposure, accumulation of insured values in the region, climate trends and diversification across the portfolio, then sets aggregate limits and prices layers accordingly. Avoid relying only on past claims, which understate growing urban exposure.
- Finance stream
For the actuarial or finance stream, what does a reinsurer's loss ratio tell you, and what else would you look at?
What a strong answer covers
The loss ratio shows claims incurred relative to premiums earned, but a full picture needs the expense ratio, combined ratio, reserve adequacy and development of past years' claims, and investment income. Also the mix of treaty and facultative business. Avoid judging a reinsurer on any single ratio or one year's result.
- Global market
What recent developments in the global reinsurance market are you aware of?
What a strong answer covers
Awareness of trends such as rising catastrophe losses from floods, wildfires and storms, changes in pricing and capacity at renewals, climate risk modelling, and alternative capital like catastrophe bonds. A sensible view on what this means for Indian insurers. Avoid inventing specific loss figures or renewal percentages.
- Motivation
GIC Re is headquartered in Mumbai and most work is at head office. Why do you want to work in reinsurance rather than a bank or a direct insurer?
What a strong answer covers
Genuine interest in risk analysis and the technical, global nature of reinsurance, readiness to build specialist skills such as treaty underwriting or actuarial work at head office in Mumbai, and long-term commitment to the field. Avoid generic motivation that would fit any PSU job or citing only the Mumbai posting.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI Insurance Officer GIC Re AM panel that follows up like the real one.
Practise these questionsMeet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this post.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni
ChairHR member
HR business partner, IT services
Friendly, efficient, detail-checking.
Female voice · 4 languages
Mr. Vikram Malhotra
Hiring manager
Engineering manager / Regional manager (hiring manager)
Direct, outcome-focused, fair but demanding.
Male voice · 2 languages
Shri Ramesh Chandra Tiwari
Hiring manager
Zonal Manager (Retd.), Life Insurance Corporation of India
Unhurried, field-wise, quietly exacting.
Male voice · 3 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Banking & financial awareness30%
RBI and monetary policy tools, deposit and credit products, NPA and provisioning basics, priority sector, digital banking and payments, recent developments described accurately; for SO, depth in the specialisation applied to a bank.
- Customer & branch situational judgement25%
Handles an angry customer, a suspected fraud or mule account, target pressure and mis-selling temptation with the right sequence: safety and compliance first, customer dignity, escalation to the branch manager, no shortcuts.
- Communication & presence25%
Clear, courteous and concise in English or Hindi; explains a banking idea in plain language a customer would follow; does not bluff when unsure.
- Fit, motivation & mobility20%
Credible reason for banking after this degree, honest about gaps and other attempts, genuinely willing for rural and semi-urban postings and transfers, realistic picture of a probationary officer's first two years.
Pass mark 60 / 100 · Bank PO / SO / RRB officer interview panel
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