Ms Leena Mody was born in 1963, graduated in 1983, and became a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India in 1990. In 2002, she qualified as Fellow Member of Association of Average Adjusters, UK (AAA) being the first woman on the East of the Suez Canal to pass the exams. She is the first Asian woman and third in the world to break the glass ceiling in the Association’s over 150-years history. Currently, Leena is the only lady in the world practising as an independent Average Adjuster and has travelled places delivering talks on her profession. She started her career in 1993 as Trainee Adjuster with JB Boda and now heads Leena Mody & Associates, which she set up in 2012.
She is an avid reader, enjoys cooking and gardening, loves spending time with her 8-year-old grandson and travelling around the world to learn about different cultures. Her primary interests include Nature Cure, Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, and Holistic Healing.
Her husband is a Senior Advisor to the promoters of Rohan Lifescapes, a leading real estate group. Her daughter, who is married, is a lawyer, as is her husband.
In a spectacular conversation with Ms Delphine Estibeiro of Marex Media, Leena discusses her struggle to become a qualified Average Adjuster from the UK Association and her passion for the profession.
Outset
After completing my Fellowship from the Insurance Institute of India, I was looking for a challenging career in insurance, as I never wanted to work in the public sector insurance companies. Accordingly, in 1992, I was planning to take exams of Institute of Risk Management, London, and simultaneously get trained with the Mafatlal Group’s Insurance Dept.
Meanwhile, Mr Chandrakannt Sheth, CEO of JB Boda Group, introduced me to a new profession known as ‘Average Adjusting’ and offered to train me for the exams conducted by AAA of UK. Average Adjusters deal with claims on ships and cargo and prepare a report recommending a claim on Hull/Cargo Underwriters, which is referred as ‘Statement of Average Adjustment’. The Average Adjusting Department at Boda’s was headed by Mr. Ravindra Sankalia, who was around 67 years and wanted to retire. Mr. Sankalia was trying to mentor a male employee to train for the AAA exams, unfortunately, he was not able to clear the exams. Hence, Mr. Sheth thought about me as he had known me since my childhood and, how I like challenges. I will always be grateful to Mr. Sankalia for being my Mentor for the exams, Guide and Guru. Mr. Sankalia had passed the exams of the US Association, however, from 1985 onwards, anybody other than US citizen is not permitted to take the exams. He passed away peacefully in January, 2020 and will always be remembered for his contribution in the Marine Industry.
Thus, it was mandatory to pass the UK exams, if I was to pursue Average Adjusting as a career because without qualification, I cannot sign the Average Adjustment Report. On perusing the exam course material given by Mr Sankalia, I found the subject of Marine Hull Claims, extremely fascinating, and agreed to the offer of getting trained as an Average Adjuster in 1993. I was the first female employee in the Boda Group and remained so for 13 years !! I was quite young, enthusiastic and passionate, and took a great leap having no idea of the nuances and intricacies involved in taking the examination. Male colleagues in Boda anticipated that being a woman, I will quit soon and, in their opinion, my enthusiasm was analogous to the fizz of the soda bottle, which dies down soon after opening up.
There were various challenges in passing the UK exams – (i) Exams held once a year only in London; (ii) Non-modular format of exams consisting of four theoretical papers (135 marks of 2½ hrs. each), practical paper (5 hrs.) and a viva; (iii) No title/subject of the papers and included any questions from the entire gamut of marine claims, such as, general average/ collision/salvage/particular average, etc.; (iv) The question paper to be returned after every exam and there were no past papers for reference; and (v) All papers alongwith viva to be cleared in one sitting, with 75% average marks verified by three examiners.
Progression
When I joined as a Trainee Adjuster, Boda Group had a Joint Venture with ER Lindley, which provided a platform for training in London. The male trainee adjuster of the dept. despite receiving training at Lindley’s, was not successful in passing the exams in 1993 and 1996. In 1997, ER Lindley got merged with Richards Hogg and became Richards Hogg Lindley, due to which the training facilities were no longer available to me.
In 1998, AAA carried out following reforms in the examination – (i) Modular format i.e. each paper had a title/subject and included questions only on that topic.; (ii) Exams consisted of three papers each for Associate and Fellowship level, of which, five were theoretical and one practical. The viva was deleted from the new format.; (iii) Candidate was permitted to pass one or more module at a time and was not required to sit again for the module that he had passed.; (iv) Conduct exams in centres other than London.
No changes were made with regard to – (i) Exams to be held once a year.; and (ii) Marks, time and 75% as pass for each module. In 1999, I got an opportunity to sit for the first modular style exams conducted by AAA in Mumbai under the offices of British Deputy High Commission.
Accomplishment
In 2000, I qualified the Associate level exams by passing three modules and, in 2002, passed the remaining modules to become a Fellow Member of the Association of Average Adjusters, UK. I was the First Woman East of Suez Canal and Third in the World to pass the UK exams. At this time, I was the only practising female Fellow Member of the UK Association, as out of the two of my predecessors, one had passed away, and the other had retired.
The most difficult experience of the exam was clearing the module of General Average and COGSA, which I passed on the third attempt. In the second attempt for this module in 2001, the examiners gave me 99 marks out of 134 i.e. almost 74% but, I was declared ‘Fail’. I took this as a challenge and in the last attempt, all the three examiners, as well as, an umpire appointed specially for reviewing the results had allotted average of 86% marks and, I was finally declared ‘Pass’. The struggle for 1% or equivalent 1.3 marks for which I was declared ‘Fail’ took me an additional year of training to qualify as a Fellow Member.
Challenges
Shipping is a male bastion and the biggest challenge before me is to convince the tenacious Seamen or Shipowner on the point of view of an Average Adjuster in handling Marine Hull Claims. Very often, it is a task to clarify the basis of apportionment of loss recommended in our report to the strong-minded Underwriters and their Surveyors, especially those who are not well conversant with the terms and conditions of the Marine Hull Policy. This reminds me of an interesting incident of grounding of a vessel at Tarapur where the tidal change is about 5 mtrs. and so was the draft of the vessel. In order to refloat the vessel, fuel was supplied by head loaders in jerry cans during the low tide period. The Underwriter’s Surveyor whilst approving the cost had deducted scrap value of jerry cans, unaware that cost of transporting the jerry cans to the shore far exceeded its scrap value.
In discharge of the onerous duties of an Average Adjuster, I acquired knowledge through reading and research on wide range of subjects – law, technical aspects of operating a ship, trade and commerce of shipping business. Besides this, the job also required capacity for juggling with figures equalling with a Chartered Accountant or a Banker, which in any case I had inherited from my Father who was the Chief Accountant in Boda Group. Further, experience of maritime affairs, modernisation of ships, conventions, etc., is equally necessary for logical discrimination in adjusting claims. The process of acquiring knowledge is ongoing and it should never end. I am grateful to the maritime fraternity in the Boda Group and others whom I have come across in my career.
I remember one such episode in my early days of learning at a seminar in 1994 at NIA, Pune, when Capt. Divekar was explaining on parts of the ship, and being unaware of what a ship is comprised of, I foolishly asked on the difference between a ‘bollard’ and ‘bulwark’. Even today the inquisitive mind is still not satiated and, would question the mercantile community on the veracity of facts presented. Machinery damage claims generally throws new challenges before an Adjuster. It is an art to differentiate claims covered and not payable under the hull policy and, in most instance, I am intuitive in smelling a fraud or claims which are not legitimate. When I am presented with claims arising from crew negligence, lack of owner’s due diligence, peril of the seas, fire onboard a vessel, normal v. extraordinary wear & tear, lack of maintenance, etc., I get motivated to recommend only those claims covered under the policy terms & conditions and substantiate/justify it with prevalent law and practice. This generally involves lot of digging into the history and evolvement of law & practice. Very often, we act as mediators and arbitrate with multiple parties involved, especially in a General Average/Salvage/Collision cases. This is evident from the fact that very few Adjustments drawn by the Adjusters end up in the Court of Law.
The Adjuster is appointed by the Shipowners in majority of cases of damages to ship and/or cargo. The Underwriter pay our fees as it forms part of the claim. Whilst preparing an Average Adjustment Report or Statement of Average Adjustment, we ensure that the Shipowner recovers all to what he is entitled under the policy terms and conditions, at the same time, Underwriters do not pay anything more than what they are liable for. As an independent Average Adjuster, reports are prepared in all fairness/dispassionately recommending claims without any fear or favour.
Scope for women or anyone to enter this career
Today, there are 44 Fellow Members of AAA, of which, 6 are ladies. We have recently witnessed some candidates qualifying from Asia, viz. Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The profession has seen a slow and definite paradigm shift from it being altogether a male bastion to females entering this career and qualifying. Also, the supremacy of the profession from the
West is gradually seen to be transferring to the East.
Currently, about 90% of international trade totalling to more than $3 trillion in volume is taking place by water i.e. ocean, sea, inland waterways, etc. We are also seeing tremendous increase in size of container ships, about 24,000 TEUs. Losses do occur at sea either due to man-made errors, such as, collision, negligent navigation, etc., or caused by natural calamities like storm, typhoon, cyclone, or hurricane. From my experience, most of the losses or damages to ship are unavoidable events, even though modern ships may seemingly be more efficient. Technology may simplify some processes but, collapse of the same, or cyber-attack can lead to humongous losses. Recent case of MV. ‘Dali’ colliding with Baltimore bridge is a classic example of this. So, there is enormous potential for young blood to be trained as Average Adjusters.
India needs its own P&I Club & IMEC
Historically, when it comes to maritime insurance, we go to London, it being the mother market. The majority of P&I groups are based in the European market. There will always be a need for every nation, not only India, to be self-sufficient in all aspects, more so, to meet the needs of ever-expanding trade and commerce. An Indian P&I Club may initially assist the coastal shipping and, later on, may encompass ocean going vessels. This should assist in situations, such as, sanctions, when it became difficult to obtain P&I cover for vessels plying in the war inflicted areas, as was experienced during the Iran-Iraq and, later Ukraine-Russia war.
Indian shipping will benefit greatly from the upcoming India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), which may provide a great alternative to the Suez Canal route. Besides this, ‘Ever Given’ incident had brought to the forefront issue of an alternative trade route due to temporary stoppage of trade, supremacy of the Suez Canal Authorities, technical and commercial feasibility of salvage operations, legal obligations/rights and duties of parties involved, etc.
Message to younger generations
I have found Average Adjusting a very fascinating career. The work involves no monotony and always stimulates the mind to look for newer avenues for solutions. In the last 32 years of my practice as Average Adjuster, I’ve worked with hundreds of different types of damages to the ship/cargo and, surprisingly, have not come across any case identical to the other. This works as an elixir and keeps me moving.
The gestation period of training in this profession can at times become annoying to the dynamic younger generation, whose goal is to climb up the ladder fast. But, I promise that this profession will not let you down, though a lot of patience is necessary to become and Average Adjuster. It’s simply hard work, perseverance and single-minded focus that is required to pass the exams of AAA, UK.
If I, as a homemaker can accomplish it, so can anyone else.
Marex Media