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To give confidence to the State administration about the financial part of this unique insurance
proposition, BSB started with a substantial upfront reduction on the premium rates, and over the three
years, the premiums have been constantly reviewed and reduced to the extent of 25% to 30% across all
the insured crops.

It is worth mentioning here that BSB comes with not only a 100% technology-based solution but
also enjoys tremendous reinsurance support from all leading global reinsurers, proving its international
approval as a purely commercial insurable and re-insurable solution. BSB also comes with another unique
feature of refunding the premium surplus beyond a certain limit, and the West Bengal Government
already received a 21.5% refund of premium out of two initial years of operation. This has come as a
substantial financial help for the State to continue with insurance.

4. Conclusion

Data-centric digital innovations in Agriculture would certainly bring major change by benefiting
farmers, policymakers, and market players. There are enormous opportunities for the utilization of
platforms available in the private sector that leverage satellite Remote Sensing and Geographical
Information System Technologies supported with AI and ML and evidence-based tools with proven use
cases, and the same is waiting to be scaled up and customized, both horizontally across larger geographies
and vertically across crops and smaller insurance units like individual farms to suit the local need ensuring
product acceptance.

Many farmers-centric services, such as weather advisory, pest/management, and market advisory,
could be drastically improved by bringing new knowledge and tools through digitalization. There is
abundant scope for developing new business models with these technologies to boost the country’s
agricultural economy, and comprehensive end-to-end solutions are available.