Shimla: ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd., one of the country’s largest private sectors General Insurance Company’s, would be starting weather based crop insurance for Rabi season (2010-11).
Weather based crop insurance provides cover against weather-related risks faced by crops such as excess or deficit rainfall, variations in temperature and fluctuations in humidity, an ICICI Lombard Insurance Company spokesman said.
This scheme facilitates immediate compensation based on certified data collected from independent third party bodies such as Indian Metrological Department (IMD) and National Collateral Management Services Ltd. (NCMSL).
This transparent and objective method of claim settlement removes the need for carrying out field surveys. This makes the claim settlement a hassle-free process, as the beneficiary is not required to file a claim for loss to receive a payout.
The major crops that ICICI Lombard would cover for Rabi season (2010-11) are winter paddy, cotton, wheat, mustard, barley, maize, onion, potato, tomato, lentil, peas, arhar, jowar, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, methi, isabgol, brinjal etc.
Besides Himachal Pradehs, ICICI Lombar would be introducing weather based crop insurance cover in the states of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh and would cover 39 districts – 30 loanee districts (farmers who have taken loans) and exclusive 9 non-loanee districts.
Weather based crop insurance, which is an index based insurance product was pioneered by ICICI Lombard in India in the year 2003-04 and has been now successfully adopted in 14 states comprising of 64 districts covering as many as 26 variety of crops.
In 2009-10 ICICI Lombard insured over 29 lakh farmers and over 19 lakh acres across 14 states. Of this 242,000 farmers and nearly 16 lakh acres of land were covered during Rabi season (2009-10).
