The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to be paid about $65 million as insurance by the consortium of Indian insurance companies for the abandoned Insat-2D satellite.
We are making the final assessment on the damage and loss of the satellite and it will be over any time now, New India Insurance Company, which leads the consortium, chairman and managing director P N Poddar said.
He said international experts had been requisitioned to assess the damage caused to the satellite. The final decision on the repayment structure would be made based on their report.
However, preliminary assessment was that ISRO would have to be paid to the tune of $65 million for the defunct satellite. An exact figure will be arrived at only after receiving the expert committee report, he said.
He said repayment from the companys pocket would be less as the satellite had been re-insured with a consortium of insurance companies led by Lloyds in the United Kingdom.
Since 95 per cent of the risk had been borne by this international consortium, Indian insurance companies would have to pay only five per cent of the repayment, Poddar said.
ISRO sources said Insat-2C, 2D and 2E had been insured for $100 million each by paying a premium of $10 million each. ISRO had also staked a claim for $65 million for the partial loss of Insat-2C, taking the total claim made for the two satellites to $165 million.
However, it was unlikely to be paid the entire amount as the package of insurance for the three satellites had a clause to deduct $100 million. Insat-2C, 2D and 2E cost ISRO $40 million each for design and $62 million each for the launch, and hence the cost of a launched satellite was $100 million.
Earlier, the consortium led by the New India Insurance had paid ISRO $64 million for the loss of Insat-1A in 1982 and $72 million for the failure of Insat-1C in 1988, Poddar said.
He said discussions between ISRO and his company had begun regarding insuring the last of the second generation satellites, Insat-2E, of which 11 transponders had been leased to Intelsat Organisation for $100 million.
The 2070 kg Insat-2D, launched in June by a French rocket, failed in October following an on-board short circuit rendering the transponders useless. Insat-2D was the first to fail among the second generation satellites.
