Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Nov 15, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Nov 15, 2003 |
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Money & Banking
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Life Insurance Insurance plan for undergraduate NRIs in Dec Our Bureau
New Delhi , Nov. 14 THE Government has finalised a scheme to provide mandatory insurance cover to undergraduate Indian workers going abroad on term contracts. According to available estimates, there are close to 12 lakh undergraduate Indian workers employed abroad who will be the direct beneficiaries of this insurance cover. Styled as the `Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana', the scheme will provide a minimum cover of Rs 2 lakh per worker. The scheme will become effective from December 25 for which a notification has been issued on Thursday, according to an official release. The Ministry of Labour has finalised the scheme in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs and technical assistance from three insurance companies — New India Assurance Company Ltd.,, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd. The scheme seeks to provide insurance cover for a minimum sum of Rs 2 lakh, payable to the nominee/legal heir in the event of death or permanent disability of any Indian emigrant who goes abroad for employment after obtaining emigration clearance from the concerned Protector of Emigrants (POE). In the case of death of the insurance holder, the insurance company is to reimburse the cost incurred on the one-way airfare of one attendant, besides the cost of transporting the dead body. As per the scheme, if a worker is not received by the employer on his arrival at the destination abroad, or there is any substantive change in the employment contract to his disadvantage, or if the employment is prematurely terminated within three months for no fault of the emigrant, the insurance company shall reimburse one-way economy class airfare, provided the grounds of repatriation are certified by the concerned Indian mission/post. The insured person shall be reimbursed the actual one-way economy class airfare by the insurance company if he falls sick or is declared medically unfit to commence or continue working and the service contract is terminated by the foreign employer within six months of taking the insurance. The insurance policy shall be valid for a period of two years or the actual period of contract, whichever is less. The insurance policy shall also provide medical cover for a minimum of Rs 50,000 as cash-less hospitalisation and/or reimbursement of actual medical expenses of the insured emigrant worker on grounds of accidental injuries and/or sickness/ailments/diseases occurring during the period of insurance, provided the medical treatment is taken in India. The policy shall also provide maternity benefits, subject to a minimum cover of Rs 20,000 in case of women emigrants but reimbursement is to be restricted to actual expenses. The family of the emigrant worker, in India, consisting of spouse and two dependent children up to 21 years of age shall be entitled to hospitalisation cover in the event of death or permanent disability of the insured person for a maximum amount or Rs 10,000 per annum. Though the exact quantum of premium payable by the worker to get this insurance cover is yet to be finalised and will depend on factors such as the term of employment, country of employment and many others, the release states that "the insurance companies shall charge fair and reasonable premium" for a policy period of six month, one year and two years.
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