Climate risk mgmt co WRMS plans to cover 1 cr farmers in FY18

Climate risk management firm, Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), plans to bring 1 crore farmers under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) over the next one year.
WRMS, which works with all the 12 insurers that are active in the space, has so far enrolled 30 lakh farmers under the scheme. Moreover, the New Delhi-based firm plans to do loss adjustment exercise or claim settlements under the scheme for premia in order of Rs 10,000 crore next year.
"We have already enrolled 30 lakh farmers from under PMFBY so far and we do plan to increase it to 100 lakh next fiscal year," WRMS founder and managing director Sonu Agrawal told PTI here.

"On a similar line, we plan to help insurers settle claims amounting to Rs 10,000 crore in over 150 districts under the scheme over the next one year. So far, we have assisted insurers for assessing losses for a premium base of Rs 6,000 crore in 100 districts so far," he added.
The company has assessed losses for a combined premium to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore under the scheme so far, he said.
As per the scheme, which came into force in the middle of last year, farmers need to pay merely 1.5 per cent of total premium in case of Rabi crops and 2 per cent for Kharif crops, the balance premium amount has to be equally shared by the concerned state and the Centre.

In Budget 2018, the government has more than doubled the allocation to Rs 13,240 crore from Rs 5,500 crore in the outgoing fiscal year. The idea is to increase coverage area to 50 per cent in next couple of years under the scheme.
Talking about the current status of the scheme, Agrawal said premium totalling Rs 22,000 crore has already been underwritten in the current fiscal year, which is likely to go up to Rs 28,000 crore in the next fiscal.
UPL, which was earlier known as United Phosphorus, had acquired 26 per cent stake in WRMS by paying Rs 10 crore last year.