In an industry-first initiative, the third largest private sector general insurer HDFC Ergo on Monday tied up with tech firm Tropogo to offer commercial drone owners and operators third-party liability cover for property damage and physical injuries from the flying machines.

This policy will be offered on-demand to customers on a ‘pay as you fly’ concept, the insurer said in a statement. Third-party insurance liability claim is mandatory for drone operations in the country.

Various government bodies and, especially the police, have been using drones in their fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 9,500 people in the country so far, with more than 3.32 lakh people infected so far. Globally, more than 4.3 lakh lives have been lost and close to 80 lakh have been infected.

Ritesh Kumar, the Managing Director of HDFC Ergo General Insurance, said as drones are being used in outdoor commercial activities, operational mistakes and equipment failures may cause damage to third parties. “Considering this, we are launching this cover under our aviation insurance, which is a first in the industry, to safeguard drone owners and pilots from any third-party liability while flying a drone commercially.”

Drones were effectively used by the police to implement lockdowns, as they have proved to be efficient and beneficial for public surveillance, crowd monitoring and in certain areas even for delivery of essentials like medicines.

Sandipan Sen, founder of Tropogo said third-party insurance is mandatory for drone operations, and there has been a demand from the drone operators for insurance. “Unfortunately, until now, no insurer offers such a cover and the flexibility to buy the policy through a digital platform. We identified this as the problem statement and partnered with HDFC Ergo to offer the country’s first on-demand pay-as-you-fly third-party liability cover for drone owners and operators,” he added.

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