Need to include insurance products in disaster mgmt policy

Insurance plays an important role in providing relief to the affected areas, says Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena

The recent calamity in Uttarakhand and the ensuing damages have prompted the government to think of including insurance products in the National Disaster Management Policy.

"It is perhaps necessary to embed insurance products into the National Disaster Management Policy to bring out the role of insurers and reinsurers in meeting the objective of the national policy," said Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena at the inaugural address of the eighth meeting of Asian Forum of Insurance Regulators here.

Insurance plays an important role in providing relief to the affected areas and lives after a catastrophic event, he further said.

"In India, till recently, the approach to disaster management has been reactive and relief centric. However, a paradigm shift has now taken place at the national level from the relief centric syndrome to holistic and integrated approach with emphasis on prevention, mitigation and preparedness," he added.

The catastrophic events also have implications on the finances of both insurance and reinsurance companies and they need to strategise to ensure that the impact of these events is smoothened on their finances, the minister said.

Giving statistics, Meena said post liberalisation, the levels of insurance penetration to GDP have increased from 2.7 (life at 2.15 and non-life at 0.56) in 2001 to 3.96 (life at 3.17 and non-life at 0.78) in 2012.

Insurance density to total population was $11.5 (life at $9.1 and non-life at $2.4) in 2001 and reached $53.2 (life at $42.7 and non-life at $10.5) in 2011.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority chairman T S Vijayan later told reporters that as many as 16 jurisdictions and 25 foreign delegates from insurance regulators in the Asia-Oceanic region are participating in the three-day event.

Representatives of International Association of Insurance supervisors, Asian Development Bank and several Indian insurance industry players would also attend at the event.