Non-life insurance industry will end up receiving around 10,000 claims valued at nearly ₹2,500 crore from people affected by the Tamil Nadu floods, said G Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, New India Assurance Co.

So far, New India has received 1,700 claims valued at around ₹425 crore and could end with around ₹500 crore, he told newspersons.

Of the total claims so far, 900 was for non-motor, including fire and household, and the balance for motor, with cars being the worst affected.

Heavy rains battered Chennai, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore and Thiruvallur districts for the past month.

For vehicles, based on the level of submergence, New India will pay upfront a fixed sum to policy holders. The claim will be settled on cash-loss basis. The insured/vehicle owner can get the vehicle repaired at his convenience later. A similar matrix will be provided for consumer durables insured under the home insurance policy, he added. Srinivasan said after natural calamities at Uttarakhand, Srinagar, Visakhapatnam and Chennai, “we are geared up and much prepared to handle the huge demand of insurance claims and quickly disburse the amounts”. New India disbursed claims worth around ₹400 crore in Srinagar and ₹500 crore in Visakhapatnam, he said.

Claims process People affected by the floods can give a simple request with evidence, which could be a photograph of the affected object. A surveyor will do the inspection in 24 hours and an interim payment will be made in two to three days, he said. There is a now a standard operating procedure to process claims for catastrophic losses, he said. Srinivasan said the volume of claims will increase in the next few days as people who left the city during the floods will return and assess the damage, he said.

So far, the highest claim request of ₹20 crore came from a fire-affected industrial unit located in Guindy, he said.

Chennai was seen as a flood prone area. After last week’s floods, instead of a change in insurance premium pricing, there will be better underwriting, he said.

For New India, the impact on the balance sheet due to the floods in Tamil Nadu would be around ₹50 crore while the rest would be recovered from reinsurance, he said.

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