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Talk of innovation in the insurance industry and the latest one can think of is pharma companies mulling over political risk cover to insure the volatility in the political scenarios that can majorly affect them when they explore opportunities abroad.
So also the phrase ‘as unpredictable as weather’ may not hold true any more since weather insurance covers are expected to hit the market soon thanks to ICICI Lombard and will perhaps turn out to be a major boon especially for farmers.
While final touches are being given to the product, it has already received the go-ahead from the insurance regulator.
The company, for weather covers has joined hands with the IMD department for the required data and weather reports and has also teamed up with the Word Bank and International Finance Corporation for launching the product.
The product is expected to be totally reinsured for which it is banking on one of the major reinsurers from among Swiss Re, Munich Re, PartnerRe and ACE. Plans are also on to target areas where droughts are a frequent phenomenon.
Another attempt at innovation was made by Bajaj Allianz and Tata AIG in the recent past by launching kidnap and ransom covers of amounts ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore targeting the north eastern regions of the country especially tea gardens where kidnapping has been a common occurrence and the response was reportedly good.
Besides Tata AIG took the initiative to launch the first cover against cyber extortion and hacking - Net-Advantage to offer protection against computer crime to the extent of $25 million.
From insurance covers for mobile handsets to covering gold jewellery at Big Bazaar to launching weather insurance covers, cyber extortion and hacking covers, kidnap and ransom covers - the list of innovations may only get longer as time passes.
While in the past such innovative attempts were hard to come by, the entry of international insurers into India has been one of the reasons for such a change.
Conventional policies ruled then but today increased awareness, and the urge to tap the potential in unchartered territory has been one of the reasons for more and more innovative covers hitting the market. As a result the day is not far when there would be a cover for just about everything.
