The New India Assurance Company has so far received 2,000 claims, amounting to ₹500 crore, in the aftermath of the Chennai rain devastation and has settled 200 claims amounting to ₹6 crore, according to Chairman and Managing Director G Srinivasan.

Interacting with the media here, he said it was too early after the floods, and the company would expeditiously settle the claims. On-account payments would be made to the affected parties for immediate relief. He also said there was no scarcity of surveyors in Chennai. “Surveyors from Bengaluru and Andhra Pradesh are on the job and Chennai also has sufficient number of surveyors. Therefore, there is no problem of surveyors which we faced here in Visakhapatnam after the Hudhud cyclone in 2014,” he explained.

Referring to Hudhud claims in Visakhapatnam, Srinivasan said the company had settled almost all claims, paying out ₹450 crore, but “20 or so claims are still pending, amounting to ₹60-70 crore”.

He said New India Assurance was focusing on international operations and 20 per cent of its business was coming from abroad. “Recently, we have opened an office in Myanmar and we are opening offices in Qatar and Canada soon,” he added.

Srinivasan said the company had collected ₹16,050 crore in premium income, and made a profit of ₹1,431 crore. The target for the current year was ₹18,000 crore in premium income.

“We have already collected ₹11,800 crore in premium income up to November and are sure of achieving the target. We have made a profit of ₹788 crore in the first half of the year,” he said.

He said the IRDA had taken a decision to allow foreign re-insurers to set up offices in India, which was a significant development.

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