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IRDAI has urged insurance agents and insurance intermediaries to distribute underpenetrated products like home insurance to their clients.
BC Patnaik, Member (Life), IRDAI feels that individual agents and insurance intermediaries should sell home insurance to people. He was speaking at the 15th Global Insurance Summit & Awards held today in Mumbai.
Patnaik said the home insurance offers great business potential to intermediaries and insurers to grow business and increase the penetration of insurance.
Citing the recent example of urban flooding of Bangalore, he said that there is a huge gap between insured loss and actual loss that happens due to catastrophe. For instance, people lost Rs.25,000 crore as against insured loss of Rs.2000 crore due to floods in Kerala, a huge gap of Rs.23,000 crore. People are falling back to poverty due to such substantial losses, he said.
Patnaik further said that a comprehensive home insurance comes with a premium of less than Rs.3000 per annum for a property worth Rs.80 lakh in India.
Home insurance offers protection to structure of house from natural calamities like earthquake, floods, storms, cyclones and so on and against perils like fire, vandalism or riots among other things. It also offers protection against household losses like jewellery, furniture, artefacts, electrical appliances and so on.
