India's ignorance of catastrophe insurance is proving too costly

India's ignorance of catastrophe insurance is proving too costly
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Sanjay Kumar, District magistrate, Allahabad, inspects the flood affected low lying areas as they distribute flood relief materials to the people in Allahabad in 2016; Ritesh Shukla/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Synopsis

Economic losses due to disasters have increased in the past decade, but Indians just don’t have enough catastrophe cover. The damage is huge.

Natural calamities abound in India. Flood, cyclones, and landslides routinely destroy lives and capital. Kerala is only the most recent episode. The worst flood witnessed by the state in a century killed over 400 and displaced over 700,000. The economic loss is estimated to be as high as INR20,000 crore. Now, guess how much of these losses are insured? Not even 10%. Speaking to ET Prime, AV Girija Kumar, chairman and managing director, Oriental
( Originally published on Sep 05, 2018 )

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