Risk firms expect huge claims from industrial units

Industrial units have suffered heavy loses on account of torrential rains on Tuesday. Reliance has put in a claim of over Rs 50 crore for its Patalganga plant. Pfizer's plant at Bhiwandi has suffered to the extent of Rs 10 crore. Deepak Fertiliser's claim is around Rs 2 crore.

Paper Products' Thane operations has suffered a damage of about Rs 1 crore, while Living Room's showroom and godowns have suffered a loss of around Rs 1 crore. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) closed down its unit at Patalgana following the floods.

"In the flood-affected areas of Bhiwandi and Thane, loss to godowns has been estimated at about Rs 200 crore," said H L Chopra, director & advisor, Edelweiss Insurance Brokers Ltd.

"Eighty per cent of the claims will come from industrial units," said Ritesh Kumar, head of risk & reinsurance, ICICI Lombard. The private insurance major anticipates claims to the tune of Rs 80-100 crore.

"Majority of these will be on account of stocks in godowns washed away by the rain water in Andheri and Thane," he added.

New India Assurance Co alone received over 2,700 claims valued at over Rs 300 crore on Friday. Of these, 700 are from the flood-affected area of Raigad, and includes claims from shops, said K K Gupta, general manager, New India Assurance.

There are over 250 companies having a turnover of less than Rs 20 crore each in the flood-affected areas of Thane, Andheri and Raigad. These companies have an aggregate gross block valued at a little over Rs 4,000 crore.

"Plant, machinery, buildings and a lot of inventory has been affected by the floods," said senior insurance officials with a leading private insurance player.

Mahindra & Mahindra's plant at Kandivali suffered major damage with production coming to a halt. Some of the large corporate entities and multinational players are also situated in the flood-affected areas.

Tata Steel, for instance, has its cold rolling complex in Tarapur, Thane. Hindalco has its plant in the Thane-Belapur area. Jindal Steel has its plants in Tarapur and Thane. Likewise Crompton Greaves has its plants in Kanjur Marg. Asian Paints has a plant in Bhandup.

There are about 50-60 companies in Patalgana and Raigad districts, including that of Cipla. Siemens has its plant in the flood-affected Thane.

General insurance companies are bracing themselves for huge claims both on the property and motor front. Bajaj Allianz General has estimated claims to exceed Rs 110 crore.

Many of the private insurance companies-Royal Sundaram General Insurance, HDFC Chubb General Insurance and Cholamandalam MS General Insurance-are still assessing the impact of the floods.

"Corporate entities especially those around Thane, which chose to exclude flood from their fire insurance cover, will not be able to claim damages," said Kumar of ICICI Lombard.

Some companies tried to save 10-15 per cent insurance premium by opting for exclusion of flood under the fire insurance policy as they never expected places like Thane to get flooded, he added.