The second wave of Covid has pushed up claims for life insurance companies by 5-10 times for April 2021. This follows 1.9 lakh Covid-related deaths since April 1, 2021, which is 17% higher than lives lost to the pandemic in the entire FY21.
“Life insurers, while making Covid reserves last year, assumed 50–100% higher Covid deaths for FY22. Our analysis shows that reserves made by them can cover 1.5–2x the Covid-related deaths in FY21,” said a report by Macquarie.