Iffco-Tokio, OLRDS in pact for insuring cattle

Iffco-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI), a general insurance providing company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Orissa Livestock Resources Development Society (OLRDS), state government owned organization.

The pact between Iffco-Tokio and OLDRS is for implementation of the company’s newly launched Pasudhan Bima Yojana (PBY) in the state on a pilot basis to insure the cattle.

The unique product of Iffco-Tokio, a joint venture between Indian Farmer’s Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (Iffco) and Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Group, the largest insurance company of Japan, would be first introduced in only two out of 30 districts in the state- Kendrapada and Khurda.

“We will extend the product to other districts in the state subsequently keeping in the response of the farmers. The insurance cover would also be done for other domestic animals in future, he informed”, said A K Mishra, the Orissa state head of Iffco-Tokio told Business Standard.

While the OLRDS will provide 50 per cent of the premium, the other 50 per cent will be borne by the cattle owners. The life of the cattle would be covered under the scheme. The cattle owner would be getting around Rs 15,000 if the insured animal dies due to any accidental or in any disease, he said.

As the product is farmers friendly, Mishra expressed hope that the cattle owners would appreciate it and come forward to insure their animals.

The company expected to insure around 10,000 animals this year in these two districts of the state.

The company has also extended its another farmer friendly insurance product- Barish Bima Yojana (BBY) in another two districts this year. The BBY was introduced in the state by the company in the five districts including Ganjam, Cuttack, Kendrapada, Khurda and Nayagarh on a pilot basis.

This product would be extended to two more districts- Bargarh and Sambalpur. Around 1500 farmers were benefited from this product last year.

BBY is an index-based weather insurance product providing protection to the farmers against anticipated crop loss due to the excess and deficiency of the rainfall depending upon the locations, weather conditions and crop requirements of a specific region.

The prominent feature of the product is that it is not linked to the declaration of the drought or flood by the government.

The insurance claims will be calculated on the basis of the rainfall data recorded at the particular area weather station.