Page 11 - Insurance Times December 2015 SAMPLE
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Kotak General Insurance gets IRDAI licence to com- Bajaj Allianz moots
mence business short-term general insur-
Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Kotak General Insurance will initially ance covers
Company announced that it has been focus on the retail side of the business
granted certificate of registration (R3) comprising motor insurance, health In- Private general insurer Bajaj Allianz
by IRDAI to commence business as an surance, home Insurance and travel in- has moved a proposal before IRDA
Indian insurance com- to launch short-term insurance
pany. The insurer has surance. The com- plans. These are insurance schemes
received permission to pany will soon expand for home or accident cover, which
underwrite all classes into the commercial can be purchased for a specific pe-
of general insurance lines of business, riod. At present, a blanket cover for
business (Including health insurance). which includes fire, the entire year is available under
burglary and marine among others. At various general insurance schemes.
Mahesh Balasubramanian is the Chief inception, the general insurer has been However, there are many who feel
Executive Officer of Kotak General In- capitalised at Rs 135 crore. the need to get insurance only for
surance. "Being a new entrant, we will smaller periods, when the risks are
have the opportunities to embrace The general insurance industry has 28 high, said Tapan Singhel, CEO and
new technologies and developments in companies and Kotak General will be managing director of Bajaj Allianz.
the digital world to provide innovative the 29th company in the sector. This
products and solutions, which will de- will take the total count of the num- "For example, if someone wants to go
liver superior customer experience," ber of insurers in India to 54, with 24 out for a vacation, he may need a
said Balasubramanian. life insurers and 29 non-life insurers and home insurance or may be an acci-
one reinsurer. dent cover only for the days he is out.
It can be made available in the new
General insurance claims are likely to settle faster scheme. The same could be for ve-
hicles. The proposal has been put up
from now on before IRDA, and the company is
hopeful," said Singhel. There are
companies which may result in plans to sell the short-term plans
through e-commerce websites once
delays," said SS Gopalarathnam, the IRDA approval is secured, he said.
Managing Director, Bajaj Allianz has also mooted a pro-
posal to have technology-based sur-
Cholamandalam MS General In- veillance of vehicle insurance. Hav-
ing a third party insurance is manda-
surance. The move to increase tory for vehicle owners, but again
the compliance is very low. RFID
the surveyor limits follows the re- chips can be planted on the number
plates. The moment a vehicle
laxations allowed by the regula- crosses a toll plaza or any other
monitored point, the data can be
tor during the Jammu and Kash- captured and insurance details can
be checked online. The police can
mir and Uttarakhand floods, later send a reminder or challan to
the defaulters, he said. As part of
which caused large-scale damage moves on having innovative insur-
ance products, such a proposal has
General insurance claims are now likely to property and vehicles. also been submitted before IRDA, he
to get settled faster as the regulator said.
has raised the claims limit for hiring Insurance industry officials also said
external surveyors to Rs 50,000 for that since the frequency of claims is
motor insurance and Rs 1 lakh for higher in motor insurance, insurers will
other types of insurance. The earlier be able to appoint automobile experts
limit was Rs 20,000 for all types of in-house to settle the claims. Accord-
claims. IRDAI said that it will review ing to Praveen Vashishta, Chairman of
this limit every three years. Howden Insurance Brokers, the limits
were meant to be set for a reasonable
"Claim settlement now can be done amount adjusted to inflation. How-
much faster using our internal surveyor ever, at present even if a small part in
teams. External surveyors typically are a car gets damaged, the figure could
overburdened as they serve many cross Rs 50,000.
The Insurance Times, December 2015 7
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