Page 14 - The Insurance Times June 2020

COVID insurance benefits are available Under this program, Shadowfax Deliv- and claims processes to Shadowfax De-
in three slabs, worth Rs 50,000, Rs ery Partners will receive an insurance livery Partners."
30,000, and Rs 10,000 respectively and cover benefit for eventualities like
are available on purchase of air condi- death and disability for INR 7.5 Lac Covid-19 impact: Life,
tioners, washing machines, refrigera- each. There is also a loan protection
tors and all appliances from LG Elec- cover of INR 50,000 and a child edu- medical insurance set to
tronics. cation cover of INR 20,000 for the become dearer
Delivery Partners family in case of
Commenting on the initiative, Vijay Covid may have brought home the
Babu, VP, home appliances, LG Elec- death or total disability. importance of insurance, but it is also
tronics India, said, "Our innovative The company will also be responsible likely to make insurance more expen-
technologies in the home appliances for system integration and defining sive. While term insurance products
range offer various features that help processes for the GMC program that may become as much as 30% dearer,
to keep products fresh and maintain will cover active rider partners of
medical insurance premiums may rise
bacteria-free healthy life. By offering Shadowfax. Claims can be made by 20-25%. Insurers' pricing calls will be
COVID-19 insurance through the pur- through Acko's website and from
influenced by their view that morbid-
chase of our home appliance products, Shadowfax's app as well.
ity risks have gone up post-Covid and
we aim to provide a meaningful inte- Abhishek Bansal, Co-founder & CEO,
gration to consumers." also by higher regulatory compliance
Shadowfax, "The safety of our delivery costs, especially in medical insurance
partners is of utmost importance to us where regulator IRDA has issued new
Acko Partners with as they are the mainstay of our busi- coverage norms.
Shadowfax to Introduce ness ecosystem. We have always taken Insurers will essentially be passing on
partner welfare steps keeping this phi-
Accident and Medical In- losophy in mind. We are glad that we higher costs as reinsurance rates go up
surance for Delivery Part- have partnered with Acko, one of to reflect post-pandemic risk calcula-
Indias leading insurance providers to tions. Medical and morbidity-related
ners protect our delivery partners from any risk calculations are undergoing revalu-
Acko General Insurance, announced a health/incident hazard during the cur- ations at global reinsurance level, mul-
strategic tie-up with Shadowfax, larg- rent pandemic. A positive aspect of this tiple industry sources aware of the
est crowd sourced B2B last-mile deliv- insurance is that it covers the safety of matter said.
ery services platform. Acko has devel- our Delivery Partners during or beyond As per industry executives, the hike in
oped a Group Personal Accident (GPA) the COVID situation. The insurance reinsurance rates for the industry can
policy and Group Mediclaim (GMC) cover was seamlessly rolled out and be anywhere between 300 and 400
policy for all Shadowfax delivery part- implemented PAN India for our deliv-
ners for the period they are active on ery partners who are at the forefront basis points over the current 8-9%. One
Shadowfax platform. of the pandemic and serving the com- bps is 0.01 percentage points. This
likely revision comes on the back of a
This industry is witnessing higher attri- munity."
reinsurance rate hike earlier this year.
tion, therefore, needs an insurance Ashwin Ramaswamy, Head of Strate- Industry insiders say there's already
plan which can also be as dynamic as gic Partnerships at Acko said, "At Acko pressure on margins.
the gig employees. Acko has created we create innovative products to en-
dynamic insurance plans which allow sure that it is effortless for consumers Most private sector insurers have
the companies to extend the insur- to secure themselves in various as- made slight revisions in their term pre-
ance to their active Delivery Partners pects of their daily life. This partnership mium rates this year under minor modi-
and help the companies to save at with Shadowfax is a seamless integra- fication provisions. "Reinsurers are
least 30% of their insurance cost. Acko tion of two customer-centric brands changing rates significantly. The trend
will undertake the risk and claim settle- focused on delivering the best user ex- will unfold more post complete easing
ment for a daily GPA and GMC cover perience. With this partnership, Acko of lockdown," said Aditya Birla Sun Life
offered to the active Delivery Partners. will be bringing its hassle-free issuance MD Kamlesh Rao. R

14 The Insurance Times, June 2020