Domestic insurers have logged over 20,000 claims, as on date, on account of the recent floods in Maharashtra. In value terms, the claims aggregate Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
Though the insurance industry is talking about insured losses amounting to Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion), according to rough estimates property losses alone in Maharashtra is estimated at around Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion).
The four state-owned insurers, The New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, United Insurance and National Insurance have received 9,300 claims, amounting to Rs 1,300 crore (Rs 13 billion).
Terrible Tuesday: Mumbai copes with a calamity
According to sources, in case of private insurers, ICICI Lombard and Bajaj Allianz have reported claims in excess of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) each.
In fact, according to J K Gupta, general manager, New India Assurance Company, claims on account of torrential rains in Mumbai are expected to far outweigh losses on account of the Gujarat quake or the Mumbai floods in 2003.
The insurance industry has estimated that claims on account of the rains last week could rise to about Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) against Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) loss incurred on account of the Gujarat earthquake. In fact, losses at the Kandla port were only around Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion).
Floods are seen today as the highest insured-loss in India among natural calamities, but pale in comparison to insured-losses worldwide. For example, the Tsunami resulted in insurance claims totalling $14 billion worldwide.
According to Swiss Re, the global insurance industry suffered huge losses on account of natural catastrophes in 2004. Identifying around 116 natural catastrophes world-wide, the reinsurer's report stated that the industry paid out over $120 billion in claims.
While India may not have had huge insurance-losses, it has had its fair share of losses in terms of deaths. The Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean, affecting 12 coastal states last December, resulted in deaths of about 2,80,000 individuals.
But since most parts of the coastal-region were un-insured, the tragedy had an insurable loss of only around Rs 50-70 crore (Rs 500-700 million).
