Home insurance in demand after floods
Posted on: 09/Sep/2016 9:42:51 AM
More people have been buying home insurance after the deluge last December. According to Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co., We have seen a rise in home insurance sale in Chennai and its neighbouring districts after the floods. The number of policies sold in the city has gone up by 30 per cent and the premium generated has shot by a stunning 124 per cent.
A senior executive at Tata AIG General Insurance Co. said, I think there has been a lot more awareness as to the need for home insurance after the floods. Earlier, people would take a home insurance policy only because they have taken a housing loan - but now people are looking at more comprehensive coverage.
Speaking about this, an official of Bajaj Allianz said, Of nearly 7,000 claims the company paid in the aftermath of the floods, only 5 percent of claims were for damaged homes. This shows the dismal penetration and exposure to home insurance in Chennai and its surrounding areas, just like other parts of the country. This gets reflected every time cities experience a natural calamity.
Other insurance companies face the same problem. An executive from United India Insurance said, Many people take a home insurance policy only because the bank loan mandates it. But they don`t realise that it will not cover the entire value of the property and the home`s contents.
But post-floods, many Chennaiites, who were underinsured even though they had a home cover, are coming forward to ensure their insurance covers the home and its contents.
Says Bajaj Allianz, A point of concern is that many individuals, who take insurance for their factories, business units, SMEs, don`t feel the need for home insurance. Having a home cover would ensure that people do not have to plough back their investments to rebuild their homes in case of a disaster.
