Page 6 - The Insurance Times January 2022

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, velop a future-ready workplace using the next 8 days," Bhuse told company
Minister of Road Transport and High- Microsoft technologies and manage representatives in a recent meeting in
ways Nitin Gadkari said as many as the underlying operations. Adopting Mumbai.
53,872 persons died due to road acci- agile ways of working, Swiss Re and TCS Bhuse added that farmers whose
dents on National Highways, including will work collaboratively to deliver a
claims were rejected must be given
on expressways, in 2019. persona-based, insights-driven user another chance to get their losses
experience for over 18,000 end-users.
Gadkari said the major causes of acci- evaluated.
dents on the National Highways (NHs) "Accelerating Swiss Re's journey to
are vehicle design and condition, road become a leading tech and data-led Digital frauds a worry for
engineering, over-speeding, drunken risk knowledge company, we work
driving/ consumption of alcohol & closely with our partners to co-create central bank digital cur-
drug, driving on wrong side, jumping new and innovative solutions by lever- rency
the red light, use of mobile phone, etc. aging technology and data to drive The risk of cyber frauds is one of the
value for our clients," said Youngran
He also said the ministry has issued major challenges to rolling out a cen-
Kim, Group Chief Technology Officer,
guidelines for improving the road safety tral bank digital currency, requiring
through road safety audits at all stages Swiss Re. systems that thwart such malafide at-
(design stage, construction stage and "The key to building an innovative, fu- tempts, Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
O&M stage) by engaging independent ture-ready organization is a vibrant governor Shaktikanta Das.
road safety experts. digital workplace that fosters creativ- "(The) main concern comes from the
ity and collaboration, while keeping
Replying to a separate question, angle of cyber security and the possi-
data and interactions secure. TCS is
Gadkari said during the oxygen crisis in thrilled to expand its long- standing bility of digital frauds so we have to be
March-April 2021, shortage of techni- partnership with Swiss Re to build a very careful about that. A few years
cally qualified trained drivers to handle ago, we had major concerns around
new digital workplace using Microsoft
Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) Tankers fake Indian currency notes. Similar
technologies and help them accelerate
was reported. things can also happen when you are
their innovation and growth," said Siva launching central bank digital currency
"Taking into account the continuous Ganesan, Global Head, Microsoft Busi- (CBDC)," Das told reporters at a post-
rise in requirement for transportation ness Unit, TCS. policy press conference.
of liquid oxygen (LOX), extended pe-
Das pointed out that even in the CBDC
riod of oxygen management, addition Maharashtra warns of ac-
to the inventory of cryogenic tankers universe, one has to ensure cyber se-
and high fatigue/ attrition rate due to tion against crop insur- curity and take preemptive steps to
24X7 operations, the Ministry issued ance firms prevent any kind of fraud.
advisory to states to create a pool of Crop insurance companies and the "There will be attempts so we need to
trained drivers for transporting hazard- Maharashtra government are once have a robust system to present such
ous cargo," he said. again at loggerheads as the State Ag- things," he added.
riculture Minister Dada Bhuse has or- A central bank digital currency is a sov-
TCS to help expand Swiss dered the companies to make quick ereign currency in an electronic form
Re's cloud-based digital decisions on insurance claims submit- and would appear as liability (currency
ted by farmers for Kharif 2020 losses in circulation) on a central bank's bal-
workplace incurred due to unseasonal rains. Farm- ance sheet. A 2021 survey by the Bank

Indian IT services company TCS has ers participated in the insurance for International Settlements (BIS)
expanded its 18-year old strategic part- scheme for Kharif 2020 season. Esti- found that 86% of central banks were
nership with Swiss Re, an international mated crop loss evaluated is Rs. 1,068 actively researching the potential for
provider of insurance-based risk trans- crore of which Rs. 844 crore has been CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with
fer, to help the European firm a cloud- given to farmers. the technology and 14% were deploy-
based digital workspace the to drive "The pending insurance claim of Rs. ing pilot projects.
greater collaboration and innovation. 223.35 crore should be deposited in CBDCs can be designed for use either

TCS will help Swiss Re to further de- the bank accounts of farmers within among financial intermediaries only

6 The Insurance Times, January 2022