Warm winters for HP insurance firms

With many families packing their bags and leaving to warmer places for the winter from this popular resort town of Himachal Pradesh, a growing number of such absentee households are now opting for the security of a fire and household insurance.

According to the latest figures, insurance is mainly provided by four insurance players with 4,275 fire and 2,399 household insurance policies in this financial year so far in this hill station, which has a population of about175,000.

Oriental Insurance, National Insurance, United India Insurance and New India Assurance are the four public sector companies here.

With a rising number of fire and theft incidents in the winter months, insurance against fire and theft has picked up.

"Apart from life insurance, there is now a growing awareness to go in for house insurance in Shimla and other towns of the hill state," said R C Thakur, an official of the Oriental Insurance.

"Against a fire insurance of Rs 1 lakh, the annual premium is Rs 600. While under the household goods insurance at least ten goods are covered under the risk," said another insurance official.

Jewellery insurance premium is 1 per cent and even lower for other household goods.

Last year there were several fires in Shimla, the biggest being the gutting down of a century-old house east of the town whose owner has reportedly claimed Rs 13 lakh from his insurance company.

In the past two decades there have been major fires in Shimla town destroying some of the most majestic buildings of the British era.

These fires are often said to be sparked off by short circuit and fire places in the old wooden structures, added to this have been thefts, especially when the town is under snow.