Page 20 - Insurance

PhonePe Insurance launches monthly subscriptions for health policies

Option will lower financial burden for customers, says company owned by fintech major PhonePe

Higher losses during disasters due to abysmally low insurance cover of 8%

Calling for out-of-the-box solutions to address the rising cases of natural disasters, which have since 2001 killed almost 85,000 people and thousands of crores in losses, a report has said the higher losses are due to the abysmally low insurance cover of just about 8 per cent. India has been ranked third, after the US and China, in recording the highest number of natural disasters since 1900. The country had 764 natural disasters, such as landslides, storms, earthquakes, floods, droughts etc since 1900, with 402 events occurring during 1900-2000 and 361 during 2001-22, indicating the preponderance of tail events at an alarming frequency and each such event setting new records of economic stress, SBI Research said in a report Monday. By disaster type, the country is marred mostly by floods. Almost 41 per cent of disasters that occurred were floods, followed by storms. Since 2001, as many as 100 crore people have been impacted, and almost 85,000 people lost their lives. And the coun

Gig workers to get insurance cover of Rs 4 lakh in K'taka: CM Siddaramaiah

Gig workers serving as delivery personnel in e-commerce companies will get an insurance facility of Rs four lakh, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in his budget speech in the Legislative Assembly on Friday. The amount will comprise Rs two lakh as life insurance and Rs two lakh as accident insurance. The entire insurance premium will be borne by the state government, the chief minister, who also holds the finance portfolio, said. In order to provide social security to the 'gig workers' in the unorganised sector, ie, employed as full-time or part-time delivery personnel in e-commerce companies like Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon etc, insurance facility of total Rs four lakh will be provided Siddaramaiah said. Subsidy and benefits will be given to registered beneficiaries and their dependents through the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, he said.

PRAHAR writes to FinMin over violation of advertisement norms by brokers

Civil society organisation PRAHAR has written a letter to finance ministry expressing concern over misleading advertisements by some insurance broking firms. Public Response Against Helplessness and Action for Redressal (PRAHAR) in a letter written to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleged that some of the new-age insurance broking firms selling policies online are alluring customers by indicating Rs 1 crore amount by investing a small amount for certain number of years. Insurers and insurer intermediaries are bound by the guidelines outlined in the Master Circular on Insurance Advertisements (2019). Specifically, Clause 3.4.1.3 of the Master Circular strictly prohibits insurers from projecting future performance based on past financial results. "Where attention is drawn to insurer's past financial performance, it should indicate that the past performance is not necessarily an indication of future performance," as per the Master Circular. The organisation requested the finance

Deposit claims worth Rs 752 cr settled in FY23: Financial Stability Report

In absolute terms, the insured deposits amounted to Rs 83.89 trillion as of March 31, 2023

Avg health insurance claims in India Rs 42,000; 15% cross Rs 1 lakh: Report

The average cost of health insurance claims in India is Rs 42,000, with 15 per cent of these claims exceeding Rs 1 lakh, a report said. This highlights the need for policyholders and insurance providers to consider potential high-cost scenarios, such as hospitalizations exceeding five days and costing over Rs 5 lakh, when designing coverage options. The report by SecureNow on Reimbursement Health Insurance Claims provides significant findings on hospitalization duration, claim costs, settlement rates, and the efficiency of the claim settlement process in India. It analysed 3,846 health claims filed through the reimbursement process as opposed to cashless. These claims were geographically diverse and covered different kinds of insurers, family members, and both external and internal Third Party Administrators (TPAs). Furthermore, it said, less than 3 per cent of claims are due to accidents, with a lower median cost of Rs 33,000. The report emphasizes that the duration of ...

Brookfield reinsurance arm offers to buy American Equity in $4.3 bn deal

Deal comes months after AEL rejected nearly $4 bn takeover offer from Prosperity Life and its principal shareholder Elliott Investment Management, saying bid "significantly undervalued" company

Digit Life enters insurance space with maiden product group term plan

Digit Life Insurance, which is the newest licensee to get the regulatory approval to enter the life insurance space, on Monday said it has begun operations with the launch of a group term plan as its maiden product. The company, promoted by Canadian NRI Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings and Kamesh Goyal of Go Digit General Insurance, said that it began operations within two weeks of receiving the license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on June 9. The group term cover focuses on holistic coverage of death, disease, and disability and provides flexibility through multiple payout options, with four in-built optional benefits and various add-ons. Bengaluru-based Go Digit Life Insurance is a tech-backed life insurer and is part of Go Digit Group. The four payout options include the lumpsum sum assured, regular income till retirement, regular income linked to the age of insured members' children, and regular income for a specified period of

LIC launches close-ended plan Dhan Vridhhi; offers protection, savings

National insurer Life Insurance Corporation on Friday launched a new close-ended plan Dhan Vridhhi. The new plan will be on sale from June 23 through September 30, the insurer said in a statement. LIC said Dhan Vriddhi is a non-linked, non-participating, individual, savings, single premium life plan, offering a combination of protection and savings. This plan provides financial support to the family in case of unfortunate death of the life assured during the policy term. It also provides a guaranteed lump sum amount on the date of maturity to the assured. The plan comes with two options to choose from wherein the sum assured on death can either be 1.25 times or 10 times in the second option. The plan is available for 10, 15 and 18 years and the minimum age at entry varies from 90 days to 8 years, depending on the term selected, and the maximum age at entry varies from 32 to 60 years, depending upon the term and option selected. The plan offers a minimum basic assured sum of Rs ..

Buy insurance cover for building on reinstatement, not market value, basis

This will ensure the insurer pays an amount adequate to restore the damaged house to its original state

CCI approves acquisition of stake by mortgage lender HDFC in 2 insurers

These approvals will help pave the way for the merger of HDFC into HDFC Bank, expected to be finalised by the third quarter of this financial year

Tata AIA Life reports multi-fold rise in net income at Rs 506 cr in FY23

Its total renewal premium rose 32 per cent to Rs 11,964 crore year-on-year, and the asset under management grew by 21 per cent to Rs 71,006 crore

Sun Life Asia Service Centres rebrands itself as Sun Life Global Solutions

The GCC plans to increase headcount by about 700 this year in India

Irdai fine-tuning Bima Sugam, likely to miss its August launch date

The launch of the much-touted affordable insurance product Bima Sugam is likely to be delayed beyond August timeline as regulator Irdai is working on fine-tuning the product, which will help deepen insurance penetration and simplify the claim procedures. Bima Sugam once launched will serve as an online insurance marketplace, similar to an e-commerce platform, where insurers have the opportunity to offer and sell their products, while consumers can buy or renew their policies, raise claims, and receive all the related services at a single place. Last month, Iradi Chairman Debasish Panda had met chief executives of some leading insurers in Mumbai to give a new thrust to the project and onboard them by August 1. The regulator is also pushing to implement another high tech project Health Claims Exchange. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI) here on Friday, Panda was evasive on the proposed launch date, saying th

India considers rule changes to bolster $731 billion insurance sector

Insurance penetration remains abysmally low at less than 5% in the country of 1.4 billion people, signaling growth potential for investors

Train tragedy: Insurers ease claims process, set up helpline for settlement

Many insurance players, including SBI Life, on Monday announced the prioritisation of claims related to victims of the tragic train accident in Balasore (Odisha) to provide immediate financial relief to families. General Insurance Council chairman Tapan Singhel said, "As an industry, to support the rebuilding of our community, we have created a dedicated helpline and digital capabilities so that it is easier for customers or their family members to reach insurers". Insurers have allocated specialised teams to expedite such claims and ensure a seamless claim process for policyholders, Singhel, who is also managing director of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said. "We are reaching out to our customers in the affected region proactively to ensure they are safe and in case of a requirement then that their claims are also being prioritised. Insurance companies have also deployed their resources on-sight for immediate resolution and assistance," he said. SBI Life has taken steps to ease

Odisha crash: Liberty General Insurance sets up helpline to process claims

Insurance provider Liberty General Insurance on Monday said it has set up a dedicated 24/7 helpline facility to serve the families of the victims who lost their lives in the Balasore train accident that left at least 275 people dead and 1,100 injured. Liberty General Insurance provides personal accident coverage to IRCTC train passengers. Families of the victims can call +91-9324968286 to avail the service, the company said. Expressing their commitment to providing quick claims settlement, company CEO and Whole Time Director, Roopam Asthana said, "We stand with our customers in their time of need and will fulfil our promise of protection for the unexpected, delivered with care." "At Liberty General Insurance, we have implemented several extraordinary measures to ensure hassle-free claims process for our policy holders. Our helpline number +91932496286 is a quick point of contact for our policyholders," he said in a statement. A dedicated claims support email ...

Insurer liable to compensate accident victim's kin irrespective of DL: HC

An insurance company is liable to pay compensation to accident victim's kin even if the driving licence of the offending vehicle's driver has expired and not renewed as an expired licence would not make him an unskilled driver, the Bombay High Court has said. A single bench of Justice S G Dige in an order passed in April, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, directed ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd to pay compensation to the family of a woman who lost her life in an accident in November 2011. The court said the insurance company could recover the compensation amount from the owner of the offending vehicle later. The court was hearing a petition filed by the family members of the deceased woman challenging an order passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal exonerating the insurance company from paying compensation as the driving licence of the driver of the offending vehicle had expired. The tribunal had directed the truck owner to pay the compensation. The ..

Irdai to create state insurance plan mirroring SLBCs: Debasish Panda

Aim is to bring down regulations and promote innovation in the sector

AIC to launch insurance products for livestock, aquaculture, sericulture

Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC) will launch products for the livestock, aquaculture and sericulture sectors for which it has already obtained the licence from IRDAI, a top company official said on Wednesday. AIC already has a 50 per cent market share in the crop insurance market under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bimal Yojana (PMFBY) scheme which is run by the Centre and state governments. "We have got the license for introducing insurance products for the livestock, aquaculture and sericulture sectors from the regulator IRDAI in last May. We will launch the products after developing them", CMD of AIC Girija Subramanian told reporters on the sidelines of an ASSOCHAM event here. Formed in 2000, AIC has a capital base of Rs 200 crore, contributed jointly by GIC Re at 35 per cent, Nabard at 35 per cent and the balance by the four public general insurers, National Insurance, United India Insurance, New India Assurance and Oriental Insurance. To a query, she said there is no immedi