Page 6 - Insurance Times May 2022

AIC. Besides, several States like for the first time after three years from on hold due to the Covid pandemic that
Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh April 1 is likely to witness a delay. hit the country in March 2020.
and West Bengal have exited PMFBY. The Ministry of Road Transport and
Maharashtra, one of the major States Highways, which issued the original Oriental Insurance's sol-
in PMFBY with about 20 per cent share draft proposal on the revised motor vency ratio declines
in enrolled applications as well as in third party motor premium on March
gross premium, may opt out of the 4 for public feedback, had originally The solvency ratio of Oriental Insur-
scheme in 2022-23. The State govern- planned to allow insurers to implement ance Company has been pegged at
ment is considering launching its own the revised rates from April 1. How- 0.69 for the year ended March 31,
crop insurance scheme for farmers. ever, for some technical reason, the 2021 which was previously at 0.92,
ministry has reissued the same draft according to filings made with the
Group health and cyber proposal on March 17. National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The number was flagged in a
cover costlier "There were some technical issues for
which the draft proposal has to be re- recapitalisation advice, sent by the
The new financial year of 2022-23 has department of financial services in the
issued. Now the revised rates can only
seen a sharp rise in renewals of insur- finance ministry to the company this
ance premiums across categories with be implemented after May 15 after week.
group health policy costs rising by up completing the entire set of legal for-
to 40%and cyber coverage witnessing malities including insurers notifying The progressive improvement calen-
an 80-100 % jump. their clients about the new rates," dar laid out for the company, with the
sources said. General insurers will be recapitalisation plans, shows it will still
Reinsurers led by GIC Re and general getting an opportunity to revise the be short of industry benchmarks for
insurers led by New India Assurance motor third party rates after three upto four years, effectively ending any
have hiked their premiums by up to 20- years since last revision had happened discussion on listing its shares for the
30 per cent in certain segments - other in May 2019. The annual hike was put foreseeable future.
than health and cyber - depending on
the group and customers.
nurture.farm, Digisafe partner to offer weather cover
The recent developments in the Indian
insurance industry, which is expected to farmers
to reach Rs 2.25 trillion in 2021-22, Leading agritech startup nurture farm and Digisafe insurance brokers announced
indicate there have been large pre- their partnership on offering KAVACH - a weather-based cash guarantee program
mium hikes in aviation, marine, group launched for nurture farm farmers. Farmers using the startup's services can enrol
health and liability business including in the program. As a pilot, the farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
cyber cover, insurers said. can buy this coverage at a nominal fee. KAVACH offers farmers a cashback
up to Rs 500 per acre against unseasonal rainfall. Highly customised as per
"We are putting our pricing approach local weather data, the KAVACH will transfer payouts directly to a farmer's
on a more sound technical basis and bank account if rainfall breaches a pre-set limit. The farmers would not need
have tried pricing correction wherever to intimate for claims. Instead, the payouts will be automatically triggered
we feel it is warranted,'' said Devesh based on the IMD weather data.
Srivastava, CMD, GIC Re.
Commenting on the occasion, DhruvSawhney, Business Head and COO, nur-
While the property line of business has ture farm said, "Offering KAVACH is an incremental step towards enhancing
seen some amount of stability in terms farmer resilience. Through this service, we are nudging a behavioural change
of pricing, the advantages have been in farmers by encouraging them towards embracing financial protection tools.
largely neutralised by a cut-throat Since every season, every region faces weather-related calamities, we wish
competition among the re-insurers to to cover our farmers against such weather-related adversities.
grab the huge SME business.
Through KAVACH, we have defined the parameters of cash out so that farm-
ers will benefit based on localised weather. The automatic payouts, which
Motor third party cover happen timely within a week of the rainfall breach, will be a gamechanger.
hike to be delayed We wish to extend this to 3,00,000 farmers this year."
The insurance industry's plan to hike Within three weeks of its launch, more than 1,21,000 KAVACH have been
third party motor insurance premium availed by 30,000+ farmers across nine states, covering 280 districts.

6 The Insurance Times, May 2022