Nearly four months after Tamil Nadu saw devastating floods, insurance companies have seen claims of over Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,000 crore. Senior officials in the insurance industry claim that out of over 52,000 claims received, over 30,000 claims have already been settled by insurance companies.
Industry players say that the claims arising out of Tamil Nadu floods have even surpassed the number from the Mumbai floods in 2005. The insurance industry had received claims worth over Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 crore then.
In the month of November and early December, Tamil Nadu was affected by a spate of floods which resulted in huge losses. Out of the total claims received by insurance industry, approximately Rs 3,000 crore worth was seen by four public sector insurance companies. Chennai-based United India Insurance Company has received highest claims of Rs1,500 crore. Milind Kharat, chairman and managing director, United India Insurance, said, “Most of the claims arising after Tamil Nadu floods have been settled. We had received claims in motor insurance, small and medium enterprises sector and some even from the industrial sector. We will settle remaining claims at earliest.”
After a series of catastrophic events in the past few years, the domestic insurance industry receive claims worth over Rs 12,000-15,000 crores. Various catastrophic events in the last three years, which include floods in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, besides Cyclone Hudhud in Odisha.
Apart from United India Insurance Company, New India Assurance has also received claims of Rs 500 crore, while Bajaj Allianz General Insurance also saw claims of over around Rs 450 crore. After such massive natural catastrophic event, industry participants are hopeful that, regulators might form a Natural Catastrophic Insurance Pool.
