Insurance firms want increase in PMSBY premium

As the non-life insurance companies are facing huge underwriting losses in the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), they have urged the government to hike the premium for the scheme.
PMSBY was launched by the government as a variant of Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in 2015 and it comes with a death benefit of upto Rs 2 lakh at an annual premium of Rs 12.
The industry has witnessed a claim ratio of 250 per cent under the scheme in the very first year.
"The industry has registered a claim ratio of 250 per cent in the very first year of implementation of PMSBY and hence during our interactions with the government in recent past we have urged the government to revise the premium of the scheme upwards," New India Assurance chairman and managing director G Srinivasan told reporters here today.

As of now, there are 15 non-life insurers, including the four state-owned ones, which are active in the space.
Talking about New India, he said that "even though we have earned premium of Rs 15 crore under PMSBY so far, we are also in line with the industry when it comes to the huge claim ratio of 250 per cent in the scheme."

However, New India is bullish on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, which was launched by the government last year.
The company has underwritten premium of Rs 1,100 crore under PMFBY in the very first year and is looking at making it to Rs 2,000 crore in the next fiscal, he said.

On cyber insurance, Srinivasan said, without elaborating, that his company was in talks with a few banks for providing cyber insurance cover.