Page 6 - The Insurance Times September 2022

"When they learnt that my daughter troduced 'Pravir Shield', an initiative to back States that quit the flagship
was to receive another insurance provide parametric crop insurance to Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
amount of Rs 15 lakh, they started farmers in collaboration with ICICI (PMFBY), a drop in gross premium in
demanding that money as well," Lombard and rural insuretech broker the current kharif season can be a
Geeta said. But Twinkle refused saying Gramcover. good sign for the crop insurance
she would need the money to raise her scheme.
The pilot phase of the insurance will
three children.
cover paddy farmers in Barabanki of According to preliminary data from 18
"At one point, her in-laws pinned her Uttar Pradesh who use BharatRohan's States, the gross premium collected
to the ground and rained blows on her. drone-based crop monitoring service under PMFBY this kharif season is Rs.
In a fit of rage, Abhishek picked up a 'CropAssure', the start-up said in a 14,943 crore as of August 10, com-
hammer kept in the room and bat- statement. This will help pared with Rs. 16,853 crore during the
tered my daughter to death," Geeta BharatRohan's subscriber farmers to whole of last season. There could be
said, mitigate losses due to changing some increase in gross premium as
weather patterns. The agritech firm more data are compiled, experts said.
Cognizant, insurer AXA Ink aims to cover two lakh farmers by The amount of sum insured is a notch
2024.
tech deal higher at Rs. 94,642 crore so far this
"We have opted for parametric insur- season - up from Rs. 94,604 crore last
Software exporter Cognizant has said
ance as it provides faster pay-outs season.
it has won a multi-year IT services deal
based on pre-defined parameters of
from multinational Insurer AXA UK & "The premium rate has gone down in
adverse weather incidence such as
Ireland, a digital win for the company general as a risk factor has been low-
deficit and excess rainfall, tempera-
amid lowering quarterly bookings last ered after integration of digitised land
ture, and relative humidity, which
quarter. record in many State. Now, only one
leads to losses to the farmers. The owner can be enrolled against his land
AXA is looking at a more digitally en-
parameters are set based on the type whereas there were no such checks
abled technology ecosystem with a
of crop grown by the farmers as well before," said a senior executive of an
focus on overall costs, and Cognizant
as the historical weather pattern in the
will provide a wide range of IT services insurance firm. Citing the case of
region," said Panimalar T, Associate
Madhya Pradesh, he said another Rs.
from service desk support to app de-
(Growth & Strategy), leading this ini-
velopment to IT infrastructure man- 500-600 crore may get added in gross
tiative at BharatRohan.
agement. premium but it will still be much lower
BharatRohan empowers its subscriber from last year.
Digitally enabled IT helps deliver bet-
farmers by providing actionable in-
ter customer experience and cuts
sights through UAV/ drone-based
overall cost, Rob Walker, President for Cyber insurance on rise as
hyper-spectral imaging technology.
Global Growth Markets for Cognizant. attacks surge
Periodic alerts of the upcoming threats
Cognizant's banking and financial ser-
to crops like pest attacks, disease out- India Inc. is increasingly looking at dedi-
vices business accounts for a little un-
breaks, and nutrient deficiencies are cated cyber security insurance covers
der a third of its $4.9 billion second
provided to the farmers. to address pervasive cyber threats in-
quarter revenue, according to the cluding malware attacks, compromised
Working across 30,000 acres with over
company's earnings release. India emails, cryptojacking, or instances of
6,000 farmers in Uttar Pradesh and
CMD Rajesh Nambiar had said Cogni-
disgruntled employees or adversaries
zant would strive to maintain the Rajasthan, the startup also enables its
attacking software systems and ma-
growth rate in the vertical amid a pivot farmers to produce residue-free com-
chinery.
towards bagging more digital busi- modities and sells them to large insti-
tutional buyers. India Inc.’s cyber insurance cover
nesses.
ranges $1-100 million a year, and is
growing at 35% annually. In fact, ex-
BharatRohan to offer Good signs on crop insur-
perts said cyber insurance is the fast-
parametric crop cover for ance front as gross pre- est-growing insurance segment in In-
paddy mium declines by 11% dia.
Agritech start-up BharatRohan has in- As the Centre has been trying to win While banks, non-banks and information
6 The Insurance Times, September 2022