General insurance coverage firms continue to witness larger claims arising from the novel coronavirus. As on December 1, non-life insurance coverage firms received claims of Rs 9,499 crore from 6.34 lakh policyholders, according to the General Insurance Council. Insurers have settled 4.79 lakh claims amounting to Rs 4,427 crore.
Market participants mentioned the steady fall in active instances in the previous couple of days and availability of vaccine for Covid-19 would lead to reduced claims in coming months.“In the last few days, we have seen more recoveries than the daily new infection cases, which can bring some relief to the non-life insurance industry in the weeks to come,” mentioned a senior official from a major private insurance coverage business.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there have been 4.22 lakh active instances in India as on December 3, 2020, though 89.73 lakh have been discharged. The quantity of deaths brought on by the virus stood at 1.38 lakh. Officials in the business mentioned the typical claim size reported for novel coronavirus is Rs 1.49 lakh for the business, though the typical claims quantity settled is about Rs 92,400.
The typical claim size, having said that, differs from one particular state to one more. For instance, in Maharashtra, the typical claim size for Covid-19 is Rs 1.20 lakh, though it increases to Rs 1.80 lakh in Tamil Nadu and Rs 2.31 lakh in Telangana. Senior officials also mentioned out of total claims received by the business, Rs 2,666-crore claims came only from Maharashtra, followed by Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka.
The insurance coverage business is expecting an boost in the loss ratio in the wellness portfolio due to the ongoing pandemic. Insurers anticipate loss ratio for the retail heath policy to go up from existing 65-70% to 80-85%.
The loss ratio is the ratio of claims incurred to earned premiums. So, if the loss ratio is 80%, then insurance coverage firms have received a premium of Rs one hundred and have paid claims of Rs 80 to the policyholder.