Insurance companies have already paid claims that are 100-150 per cent more than the premium they received on corona-specific policies, according to industry experts.

As mandated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), there are two corona-specific policies — Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak. These policies have been brought in as standard covers, while the pandemic was at its fastest spread early this year.

“Most of the companies have paid much more than what they had received. For Corona Kavach, we have paid 150 per cent than what we have received,’’ S Prakash, Managing Director, Star Health & Allied Insurance told BusinessLine .

While there a consolidated figure on total quantum of claims payout as on date, Prakash is “100 per cent certain’’ that all insurance players already paid more than what they collected by way of premium in pandemic-specific cover plans.

According to a senior vice-president of a large private insurer, the total claims related to corona could be more than ₹2,000 crore. “All insurers have been bit by the burden of claims payout,’’ he said.

Citing General Insurance Council’s data, he said about 1.08 lakh claims with sum assured of ₹1,040 crore have been settled by the insurers as on August 31, 2020. “We are sure this must have crossed the ₹2,000-crore mark by now,’’ he said.

Demand down

However, as new cases of Covid-19 decline, there has been a decrease in the demand for corona-specific insurance policies by about 50 per cent compared to August–September.

“The demand for corona-specific cover is now definitely on the wane, but there has been a greater predilection to either buy or continue general health cover due to greater awareness on benefits of health cover,’’ Prakash said.

According to data available, the majority of subscribers for these corona-specific cover plans are millennials as over 45 per cent of the buyers are in the age group of 18-30 years.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW