Month: February 2023

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The World of Adventure Insurance: Protecting Your Thrills in India

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The World of Adventure Insurance: Protecting Your Thrills in India

For the longest of times, adventure sports and activity was excluded from the protective umbrella of insurance. People who would get an adrenaline rush out of high octane adventure sports, usually had to pay a price for the same, they were excluded from being insured. This was done as insurance companies are risk averse and generally do not prefer to extended coverage to any high risk activity.

That being said, as insurance itself has evolved and adapted, its risk appetite has also increased due to the advent of predictive technologies like data mining, data analytics and predictive modelling. These technologies have made it possible for insurance companies to accurately assess the risk of even the most thrill-seeking individual. This lead to the birth of adventure insurance in India.

Bajaj Allianz was the first Indian insurer to enter into the adventure insurance market in 2016, but more players have begun their foray into this market in recent years.

Features and benefits of adventure insurance

  • Coverage: Adventure insurance policies provide coverage against accidents and mishaps that occur while on the adventure trip. The policy extends coverage against a wide variety of adventure activities like racing sports, mountaineering, water sports, and more.
  • Peace of mind: The policyholder can rest assured that he is covered in the event of a mishap while on the adventure activity. This will give him/her a reasonable amount of peace of mind.
  • Freedom: There are a certain number of adventure junkies that restrain themselves from indulging in high octane adventure sports due to the lack of insurance coverage, an adventure insurance policy can give them a reasonable amount of freedom to explore these high octane activities, giving them freedom to do what their heart desires.

Inclusions and exclusions

Here are a general list of the inclusions and exclusions of adventure insurance:

Inclusions

Exclusions

Coverage and protection against mishaps

Self-inflicted injury

Disability coverage

Injuries caused due to being under the influence

Accidental hospitalization

Hospitalizations due to reasons other than coverage extended

Death coverage

 

Companies providing adventure insurance in India

Mentioned within are a list insurance companies providing adventure insurance in India.

  • Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
  • Adventure Sports Cover (ASC) 360

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Top 5 most unusual insurance policies in India

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Top 5 most unusual insurance policies in India

When we talk about insurance, we usually talk about it in a boring and bland way, but Insurance products don’t have to be boring and unvaried. In fact, insurance products can be some of the most wacky and original products you’ve ever come across.  Let’s have a look at the top 5 most unusual insurance policies ever written in India.

Singing voice insurance

Iconic Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar reportedly had her vocal cords insured in the 1960s. Also, it is reported that South Indian superstar Rajinikanth has insured his iconic voice. These insurance policies are designed to extend coverage in the event of voice loss or damage. These kinds of insurance plans are usually not available to the masses but are specially designed to cater to certain popular and high net worth individuals.

Fertility and sperm count insurance

According to The Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction, around 10-15% of all married couples are now facing fertility issues.  The insurance sector has taken note of this rather recent phenomenon and designed health care plans that extend coverage to fertility issues. These plans are generally provided as an add-on package to a comprehensive health insurance policy. It could be a prudent choice to take a fertility add-on that would cover fertility treatments like IVF, including intrauterine insemination (IUI), Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT), and other non-surgical medical treatments if you are a couple.

Marriage insurance

Indian insurance companies are coming out with more and more innovative and unique insurance products, and one such product is marriage insurance. Under this product, the insurance company provides coverage to the insured against failure of the marriage taking place, theft at the marriage hall, fires, earthquakes, etc at the marriage venue. Public liabilities are also undertaken under the policy.

Pet insurance

Our pets are no less than our babies and insurance companies know this. Insurance companies have recently come up with a whole host of pet insurance products that extent health insurance coverage to pet cats and dogs. Some of the notable health insurance companies that provide pet insurance are Tata Capital, Bajaj Allianz, Go Digit, and more.

Mustache and beard insurance

Now, this is a unique one. It was widely rumored that ace Indian cricket Virat Kohli had insured his beard sometime between 2015-18.  This is not the first time that a cricketer has insured a mustache or a beard. Iconic Australian cricket Merv Hughes’ insured his Mustache for a staggering $775,000 in the 1990s.

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The growing importance of cyber insurance in India

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The growing importance of cyber insurance in India

Technological progress and innovation are happening at a breakneck pace, and every business worth its salt needs to have an online presence. This has led to various questions being raised about the safety, security, and integrity of these online value systems. According to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), there were 313,000 cyber security compromises in 2019 alone. These include the breach and leak of 180 million Domino’s India customers, the leak of COVID-19 test results of over 1500 patients, and the hacking and leak of healthcare data of 6.8 million Indians.

These incidents, although worrisome and unnerving, are hardly singular in nature. There have been numerous hacks and attacks, even after 2019. Some of the prominent ones include the hacking of 20 million user records from online grocer Big Basket in 2020, the theft of KYC data from Upstox traders, and many more. According to The National Cyber Security Coordinator, India has been constantly hit with 375 cyber-attacks daily in 2020. This amounts to approximately 136875 cyber attacks in 2020 alone. These cases should make it abundantly clear that every online business must make it of paramount importance to strengthen and bolster their cyber security measures.

Growth of Indian technologies

Indian technologies have grown at a furious pace after the digitization measures undertaken by the Indian Government. The reason for this growth should not solely be credited to the government but also to the ingenuity and industry of Indians. Let us now have a look at some of the major successes of Indian Tech over the past few years. Let us look at some of the notable facts:

Increase in tech investments: According to the NASSCOM Flagship Report, investments in research and development are poised to increase by 10-20% from 2021 to 2022.

Massive growth in startups: As of 2022, there were 25,000+ Indian start-ups and 78+ unicorns. Industry revenue has also crossed the important $200 Billion mark ($30 billion will be added in 2022 alone).
Employment driver: In 2022, the Indian tech sector added more than 4.5 lakh employees (this was a jump from 1,497,501 employees in 2021).  Further, the total employment in the tech sector is said to be over 50 lakh personnel.

Bleeding-edge innovation: Between 2015-2021, Indian tech companies filed over 1.3 lakh patents, ranking high in the global innovation index.

Top Indian tech companies: Tech leaders in India are global trailblazers. Some of the notable names in Indian technology include:

  • Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
  • Infosys
  • Wipro
  • HCL Technologies
  • L&T Technologies
  • L&T Mindtree
  • Tech Mahindra

Further cases of data breaches and compromises in India

Let us now look at some of the most prominent cases of breaches of user data in the past few years:

IRCTC: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) suffered a data leak of 6 crore Indians in 2014, where their names, booking details, and emails were put up for sale on the dark web.

Idea Mobile: In 2016, telecom major Idea Mobile reported that a data breach that compromised the data of 80 lakh customers had taken place.

Yes Bank: In 2020, Yes Bank released a statement that data related to 30 lakh customers had been breached from its servers.

Zomato: In 2017, food app Zomato released a statement stating that data relating to 1.7 crore Indian users had been breached and later leaked by hackers.

The above breaches are just a drop in the ocean. There have been a plethora of data breaches over the years.

Importance of cyber insurance in India

Let us now look at some of the most important features of cyber insurance.

Risk evaluation and assessment: Generally, before an insurance company extends cyber insurance coverage to a company, they make an assessment and check the fitness of the company’s I.T. infrastructure as a preventive measure. This check-up will highlight any potential vulnerabilities in the company’s I.T system. Once highlighted, these vulnerabilities are generally patched, resulting in a more robust system.

Incident response: This is an important post-hack activity where the insurance company trains the company to follow a set protocol in the event of a data breach. This can limit the extent of the damage caused.

Coverage of legal expenses: An important function of cyber insurance is the extended coverage of legal expenses. The company can leverage these funds to hire lawyers, private investigators, etc to investigate the matter and ensure justice is served.

Financial coverage: There is a quantum of loss associated with any data breach. The insurance company attempts to cushion the insured against this loss.

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