Page 6 - Insurance Times February 2022

The appointments come after the only 2.84 per cent of the amount rate groups of experts to suggest suit-
Delhi HC said in an order that the claimed due to cyclones Tauktae and able working models with cost benefit
Banks Board Bureau could not appoint Yaas in the quarter to June 2021. As on analysis that will lower crop insurance
insurance directors. The court order June 30, 2021, claim amounting to Rs premium and technology in crop yield
had also set aside the appointment of 1,351 crore were reported by 18,194 estimation under the flagship Pradhan
at least six directors. The court said claimants due to cyclones Tauktae and Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). This
Yaas and of this, claims totaling Rs 38.40 follows the exit of several States in-
that the appointments were contrary
to the amendments in the General In- crore were settled to 6,671 claimants. cluding Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
"Disposal of pending claims at various Telangana, Bihar and West Bengal
surance Business Nationalization Act.
stages is being monitored by the Au- from the scheme, citing high premium.
"Consequently, The impugned selec- thority regularly," the regulator said.
tions could not have been undertaken A ten-member committee under scien-
by the BBB", said the HC, which di- In 2021, cyclones Tauktae and Yaas tist K R Manjunath of Indian Space
caused losses to property in some parts Research Organisation (ISRO) will ex-
rected the government to make ap-
of the country. The year 2020 saw the plore the feasibility of adoption of vari-
pointments according to law.
occurrence of several natural cata- ous technology-based approaches de-
Only one third of Claims strophic events in various parts. veloped through pilot projects by ISRO
While in May 2020, cyclone Amphan cre- and its arm National Remote Sensing
from Amphan Cyclone ated havoc West Bengal and Odisha, Centre (NRSC) as well as Mahalanobis
settled cyclone Nisarga had a similar impact in National Crop Forecast Centre
Maharashtra, Gujarat and other neigh- (MNCFC) of the Union Agriculture Min-
Insurance companies settled 29.72 per
boring states in June 2020. There were
cent of the amount claimed by people istry, the official said.
and entities affected by cyclones and floods in the states of Telangana, Andhra According to NRSC, satellite data at
floods in 2020-21, even as the number Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra in regular temporal interval enables moni-
October 2020. In November 2020, cy-
of claims declined during the year. toring of the natural resources for their
clone Nivar caused loss to property in
While insurers got 34,304 claims for Rs some parts of the country. effective management. However, the
2,559 crore in cyclones and floods in government has also been considering
"The Authority issues guidance to the in-
2020-21, they settled 27,576 claims for to utilise drones to capture yield data
Rs 760.68 crore. As many as 3,428 dustry during catastrophes, keeping the as satellite images are also considered
interests of policyholders affected, in
claims for Rs 1,705 crore are still pend- not effective in case of fog or cloud.
ing before insurers, according to the view," IRDAI said. According to the insur-
ance watchdog, in respect of the major- The other sub-committee, headed by
Annual Report of the IRDAI.
ity of the cases, claims are outstanding due Saurabh Mishra, joint secretary in Min-
In the previous year, insurers received to reinstatement of property not having istry of Finance, will conduct cost ben-
1,40,804 claims for Rs 3,399.61 crore taken place. It further said, "There are efit analysis of all "accepted models -
due to cyclones and floods with cyclone also some instances of the required docu- agriculture insurance pool, cup and cap
Fani reporting maximum claims of Rs ments not having been submitted by the 80-110 per cent and co-insurance 20-
1,190.59 crore. In 2020-21, the maxi- insured due to lockdown. However, on 80 per cent" as well as any profit-loss
mum number of claims at 14,575 were account payments have been made in sharing model.
from damages caused by cyclone several instances."
Amphan. Insurers settled 11,512 During 2021-22 too, IRDAI issued guid- Coonoor crash: Insurers
claims for Rs 470.94 crore, while 1,693 ance to insurers to attend to the
claims for Rs 1,235.77 crore are yet to settle claims in 'shortest
claims arising out of the above events
be cleared. promptly, it said. possible time'
After the Telangana floods last year, PSU general insurers, including New
7,041 claims for Rs 329.83 crore were Centre sets up two panels India Assurance (NIA) and United India
reported but insurers settled only Insurance (UII), rushed to settle the
5,510 claims for Rs 151.30 crore, to lower crop insurance personal accident (PA) claims of all
IRDAI said. premium military personnel, including the first
Further, insurance companies settled The Centre has appointed two sepa- Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General

6 The Insurance Times, February 2022