Page 32 - The Insurance Times June 2020

While summing up - that repair being satisfied by that repair - therefore,
that issue of single repair quotation had been accepted
All insurers claims settling officials are 'Working from Home'
- so they are checking the survey reports scrupulously and by us wholeheartedly'.
for the fear of inflated claims where surveyors are 5. IRDAI requested the insurers to take urgent steps for
sometimes colluded with the insured parties - for that expeditious settlement of claims in the cyclone hit areas
insurers' claim settling officials are asking some additional and submit details of the same as advised above In view
information from the surveyors like the following: of Corona Virus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Insurers shall
1. Copy of Balance Sheet, trading and P/L Account as at encourage the policyholders to use electronic
31.03.2018/ 31.03.2019 (which was Audited) & communication wherever possible for correspondence
31.03.2020 (Provisional) duly certified by CA with UDIN while intimating the claim and filing all the relevant
No. documents. So wherever the scanned document, bills,
invoices has to be submitted by the surveyor - affixing
2. Stock position from April, 2020 till loss dated 20.05.2020
which are certified by CA with UDIN No. the surveyor'sstamp & signature on all pages/
documents (such as copies of purchase bill, stock
3. For GST (comprising of CGST & SGST) Amount to be
register, etc.) are mandatory.
reversed back to the insured - Insured need to submit
the Form No. 3B (Reversal of GST) with certification by 6. Insured must produce the purchase documents, viz.
the Insured's Auditor/ CA's Certificationand Finished challan, bills, invoices and also sale records etc. as also
Goods' Cost Calculation with bifurcation of GST. the item-wise stock position, Trading & P/L Account and
other relevant records. During inspection all the books
4. Labour Charges for shed repairing if allowed only from of accounts had to be verified and to be justified that
the single vendor - then surveyor should needs to give those are in order by the Concerned Surveyor.
justification like - 'In view of the above, although as per
the view of the insurers 2/3 quotations are required Finally when the salvage matter is resolved with the
from other 2/3 vendors in normal situation - even may quotations received from the independent, third party
be expected in this instant claim settlement case but salvage buyers as well as the offer of the insured for their
considering the Covid-19 Pandemic that is prevailing at retaining the damaged items - amongst them the highest
the backdrop, with no train service available and very bidder has to be allowed to lift / keep the salvage and
scanty road transport service being available in the thereafter, final survey report is to be submitted to the
entire state of West Bengal - the Insured strongly stated insurer, as usual.
that they are unable to take such additional quotations
from other repairers and since the matter of repairing In case of Reinstatement Policy is issued the surveyor needs
that Shed was their urgent & immediate dire need at to confirm that the damaged items / properties / machines
that moment of disaster and also directly related to the are really reinstated in fully working conditions, if not then
immediate revival of their factory's normalcy - the Shed settlement may be based on the market value (as resorted
was, therefore, simply repaired only by the available in the normal course when the policy is without RIV Clause)
Shed Repairer at their hand. Since the shed was already on the lowest quotation submitted for repair - for the sake
duly repaired by the said repairer so we had to recognize of early settlement.

Insurers see up to 40% fall in non-Covid medical claims

Insurance companies have reported a drastic fall in medical claims by policyholders during the nationwide lockdown.
Outgo on nearly all ailments - digestive to psychiatric, or even cancer-related treatments - has sharply reduced through
the lockdown, trends shared by leading insurers showed. Industry experts believe that the reduced number of claims
is largely on the back of concerns among patients against visiting hospitals, and many patients are delaying non-essential
surgeries to help prevent infections. Additionally, the number of accidents has reduced.
"We have seen a 30-40% decline in non-Covid medical claims made at hospitals during the first few weeks of the
lockdown," said Bhargav Dasgupta, CEO of ICICI Lombard. "The number of Covid related claims would be over and
above these routine claims." This was reflected in the trends shared by other leading insurers as well. Standalone
health player Max Bupa Health Insurance, for instance, said that while the highest claims in April had come from
hospitalisation on account of unavoidable conditions such as genitourinary system (highest for chronic renal failure),
cancer and childbirth; the claims for these respective conditions dropped by 40%, 42% and 45% as against March.

32 The Insurance Times, June 2020