General insurers stare at Rs 200-crore claims from floods in Tamil Nadu

General insurers are gearing up to settle the claims, which are pegged at over Rs 200 crore so far, from the last week’s devastating floods in Chennai. State-owned general insurers like New India Assurance, United India, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance and private sector players like Bajaj Allianz and ICICI Lombard have already received the claims and expect more of them in coming days.

The floods, which occurred due to heavy rains in Tamil Nadu, have claimed nearly 90 lives so far, most of them reported from Chennai and nearby areas. ”So far, we’ve received about 100 claims worth at Rs 30 crore. We’d be receiving more claims in the next days. But the incident would not be as severe as the Kashmir floods or the Hudhud cyclone losses,” New India Assurance chairman and Managing Director G Srinivasan said. ”No precise information could be given at this stage as claims are still being reported. Losses are likely to be small except in case of high-end cars where repair charges could be higher,” he added.

An official of United India Insurance said they have received 130 claims worth Rs 110 crore so far. The Chennai regional office of National Insurance Company has so far received 131 claims worth Rs 4.16 crore, most of which have come from retail and industrial segments,” its acting CMD Rajesh Aggarwal said. Considering the intensity of the inundation and water logging, motor claims are expected in large numbers. Communication network having collapsed, may be claims have not been lodged so far, he said.

Bajaj Allianz, which is one of the largest insurers of cars and commercial units in Chennai, has received 200 claims as of now. “Till date we’ve received close to 200 claims which largely from motor and properties,” its Managing Director Tapan Singhel said. ”Overall, we feel majority of losses will come from the motor insurance segment. The losses have just started trickling in since the rains have subsided and customers have started assessing and reporting losses. However, we do not expect a considerable rise in the number of claims,” he added.

Oriental Insurance has received 76 claims related to Chennai floods. ”We’ve received 76 claims from mid-sized businesses and retailers estimated at Rs 37 crore as against three losses reported from industrial houses estimated at Rs 30 crore,” head of Chennai region of Oriental Insurance Ajit Kumar said. ICICI Lombard’s underwriting and claims head Sanjay Datta said his company expects more claims to flow in from motor and corporate segments. However, he ruled out any impact on the balance-sheet as the company has transferred a major portion of the risk to reinsurers through obligatory cess.

Source: India.com