The Hindu Business Line : This wedding rings the insurance bell

Bajaj Allianz has some tailor-made packages such as the one picked up by the Jains, but is willing to work out customised solutions for its clients who want a bigger cover, Vora said.

Ahmedabad , Dec. 4

PARENTS start planning for their daughter's wedding the day she comes of age. With so much at stake, any mishap during the course of the wedding ceremony is the last thing anyone would want. Enter Bajaj Allianz with the first wedding insurance policy in the country.

Ahmedabad-based stockbroker Hitesh Jain is tying the knot this Monday with Manisha Jain from Pune. It is expected to be wedding with a difference - backed by an insurance policy.

"It is the first case of a wedding getting insured in the country. The party has taken a basic cover worth Rs 20 lakh that will cover any eventuality during the course of the wedding. The policy covers cancellation of the event due to the death or injury to the bride or groom or their blood relatives, accident, or burglary," Hiren Vora, Regional Manager, Bajaj Allianz, which is providing the first wedding policy in the country, told Business Line.

The policy also provides a Rs 10-lakh third-party liability coverage for food poisoning or accident and the Jains have paid a one-time premium of Rs 3,770, Vora said. Bajaj Allianz has some tailor-made packages such as the one picked up by the Jains, but is willing to work out customised solutions for its clients who want a bigger cover, Vora said. The bride and the groom are convinced that their parents have taken the right decision in getting their wedding insured.

"I have seen my mother collecting small things for my wedding from my school days. I don't want anything to go wrong on a day that holds such importance for my parents," says Manisha Jain.

Incidentally, the idea for the insurance cover came from Gopi Ram Gupta, the owner of Narayani Farms, the venue of the wedding on December 6.

"I inspired the Jains to get the wedding insured because I have seen cases where some unforeseen event took place and everyone had to suffer losses. If the wedding is cancelled or postponed, at least the caterers, florists and the party plot owners will not suffer and the families would be saved major embarrassment," says Gupta.

Bajaj Allianz has initially launched the product in Gujarat but plans to extend it across the country soon. With theft and fires at wedding venues being reported , the company is convinced that there would be many takers for the cover