CHENNAI: New India Assurance has received 1,700 claims worth 425 crore from policy holders across TN after the floods, said G Srinivasan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, New India Assurance, here on Friday.
Briefing mediapersons on the steps taken by the company for speedy settlement of claims, he said, “These 1,700 claims include 800 Motor Vehicle insurance claims and 900 non-motor claims in the areas of household insurance, fire insurance, shopkeepers insurance and other insurance policy mechanisms due to rains from across Tamil nadu since November 15,” he said.
“Thanks to previous experiences during natural calamities and the claims that followed, we were able to implement a simplified standard operating procedure, where we have asked surveyors to visit the premises within 24 hours of the claim being initiated by the policy holders. They are supposed to take photographs and get a rough estimate of the losses, rather than all the documents which might have been destroyed in the floods. They then have to then submit a report to the company within 2-3 days after which the company has to make an interim payment in a day or two soon after, and the full settlement within 30 days for non motor claims,” Srinivasan said.
For motor vehicle claims the policy holder is offered cash payment up front based on a few criteria like the extent of submergence, damage, etc., he indicated.
The loss faced by the insurance sector as a whole from these flood is likely to be around 2,500 crore with 10,000 plus claims. The loss estimated for New India Assurance through the floods is about 50 crore as most of the estimated losses have been covered by re-insurance, he pointed out.