Page 5 - Insurance Times April 2019

General Insurance

News

New MV Act can help cut ICICI Lombard joins hands with AnyTimeLoan.in
ICICI Lombard, has entered into a strategic tie-up with AnyTimeLoan.in (ATL),
accidents by 20%:
a lending platform, to provide insurance cover for the
Gadkari latter's lenders and borrowers. The partnership aims to
The government expects a 20 per derisk exposure of its lenders and borrowers arising from
cent decline in uncertainties such as accidents, critical illness, death, dis-
road accidents ability, and loss of job, among others.
from the cur- ICICI Lombard will offer its proprietary policies - Group Secure Mind and Group
rent 5 lakh a Personal Accident - to the customers of AnyTimeLoan.in. This will cover borrow-
year, said ers of all types of loans facilitated on AnyTimeLoan.in, with minimum policy term
Nitin Gadkari, of one year to a maximum of three years. The insurance cover for lenders comes
Union Road with free premium for the first year. Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI
T r ansport Lombard, said: "We are delighted to partner with AnyTimeLoan.in and provide
Minister. their customers with our diverse range of non-life insurance solutions."

The Parliament's nod to the pending
legislation Motor Vehicles (Amend- Insurers see 'strong potential for revival of pet insurance
ment) Bill will also help curb acci- market'
dents, said Gadkari.
Insurance companies are looking to tap into the steadily growing pet market
The Bill provides for stringent pen- in India by either reviving existing cover or designing new products to suit con-
alties in cases of offences and viola- sumers. According to data available on the India International Pet Trade Fair
tion of traffic rules. (IIPTF) website, the pet population in India has grown from 70 lakh in 2006 to
At the Road Safety Week in one crore in 2011. On average, six lakh pets are adopted every year.
Maharashtra, Diwakar Raote, State The Indian pet market is estimated at more than $800 million, and is expected
Transport Minister, said: "Road acci- to register strong double-digit retail value growth in the coming years. Higher
dents in Maharashtra in 2018 have disposable incomes, smaller families, sensitivity to animals, and social-media
resulted in over 13,000 deaths, the craze are the key contributors to the rise in pet ownership, studies point out.
highest in the last three years, and This, coupled with an increase in awareness about pet health, is driving people
around 80 per cent of these were to look for pet insurance cover.
caused due to human error." A number of public sector insurance companies, including National Insurance Com-
He added, "In 2016, the figure was pany (NIC) and United India Insurance Company, have pet insurance products, and
12,935 while it was 12,511 in 2017." offer cover against death due to accident or disease, and third-party liability.
Raote said, "Of the 13,059 deaths in However, these products have not been able to make a mark due to the lack
2018, 80 per cent, or around 11,000, of awareness and poor inclination among agents to sell these products, as well
were caused due to human error. A as the absence of a proper distribution model, said a senior official at one of
sizable part of this 80 per cent was the public sector insurance companies. Hence, the number of policies sold and
caused by rash driving." premium collected is very small.
The Insurance Times, April 2019 5