Irda moves to speed up settlement claims in flood-hit states

In order to speed up settlement of claims in flood-hit states, insurance watchdog Irda today raised the limit of losses required to be assessed by a licensed surveyor to Rs 50,000 for a period of two months.

"As a special case, authority has raised the limit of losses required to be surveyed by a licensed surveyor or loss assessor for settlement of claims from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 for the recent floods in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Maharashtra alone, for a period of two months from October 8," Irda said in a circular here.

The insurers may utilise the services of in-house surveyors for assessing losses up to Rs 50,000, it said.

"This special dispensation is given to insurers to expeditious disposal of claims and for mitigating hardships to policyholders," the regulator said.