Rs 8.7 cr insurance claims in Chennai

QUAKE AFTERMATH

The tsunami has cost general insurers in the city about Rs 8.7 crore till now. However, a complete picture will emerge only after January.

"It will at least take another two weeks to estimate the total claims arising of the tsunami incident. So far we have received claims worth Rs 5 crore mainly from a marine portfolio," a senior official from Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company said.

Claims arising from the tsunami damage, he believed, will be comparatively small. The worst-affected along the eastern coast are areas where people below the poverty line were living. For instance, in Chennai, most of the fishing boats were not insured, he said.

Arun Agarwal, CEO, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited, said the company has received 11 claims of about Rs 2.5 crore from all insurance portfolios.

It was difficult to quantify the claims received by the public insurer as most of the claims were below Rs 50 lakh and only one claim was about Rs 2 crore, Chennai-based general insurer United India Insurance Co Ltd, CMD, K Garg, said.

Royal Sundaram said it had so far received about Rs 75 lakh worth of claims in the past two days.

Garg as well as Agarwal said that the claims was not likely to impact their profits as the insurers duly taken reinsurance.

The insurers also hope that the December 26 tsunami will encourage more mid-sized corporates to take a full insurance cover.

"To save on high premiums, corporates as well as individuals do not take a full cover of the fire portfolio," Garg pointed out.

The Royal Sundaram official said if a traditional fire cover was taken, a property is insured against floods, but for earthquake, a special cover wasrequired. To take advantage of a rebate, most corporates and individuals do not take the flood cover, he said.