Insurers fear being flooded with claims from deluge-hit states

The rising number of damage claims, mostly from the industry, fire and motor segments, pouring in from the flood-hit states has the general insurance sector worried.

Since late June, several states like Assam, Bihar, Gujarat Haryana and Rajasthan have been hit by devastating floods, leading to heavy loss of lives and damage to livestock as well as property.

State-owned non-life insurer National Insurance Company has received a total of 209 claims so far from Gujarat and Assam with a value of around Rs 23 crore. A majority of claims have been generated under the fire segment.

“Its a matter of concern that catastrophic losses which are essentially Black Swan events, are happening every year. This will put considerable pressure on property pricing,” National Insurance chairman Sanath Kumar told PTI.

But the company has been diligent in settling claims of the affected people even at the cost diluting some of the procedural norms, because “it’s our endeavour that financial help is delivered to the policyholders who have been affected by the floods in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat and elsewhere,” Kumar said.

Another state-run player United India has received a total of 216 flood-related claims from Gujarat alone so far.

Most of these claims are from the motor and industry segments.

“So far, we have received 216 claims from various parts of flood-hit Gujarat alone and we will settle all the valid claims within a fortnight,” said director of United India M N Sharma, who is tipped to be the next chairman and managing director.

“We have already pressed in surveyors to the flood-hit areas in Gujarat and asked them to report about the claims within a week. Once we receive their report, we will settle the claims in a week’s time,” he added.

The company, Sharma said, is yet to receive claims from Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and Assam, which have had much more devastating impacts.

“We will take some more time to reach out to the victims in these states as the flood waters have not receded yet,” he said, adding “We’ve made a provision of Rs 15 crore for claim settlement. But we fear the figure may increase.”

According to Sharma, most of the claims generated so far are from the motor and industry segments.

Private sector Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has also received claims from these flood-hit states. However, the value of those claims are very small compared to the actual economic loss.

The company has so far received 125 claims from Bengaluru which is likely to go up to 200. Similarly, it has received 25 claims from Bihar (which may also go up to 20) and 185 from Gujarat, an official said.

“The economic loss in any flood is much higher than the insured loss. The industry, along with government should strive towards coming out with a solution which doesn’t cause financial hardships to the common-man whenever such events occur,” Bajaj Allianz GI managing director and chief executive Tapan Singhel said.