“We worked with the insurers and launched product that pays if the event happens and the trigger is met. This expedites the payout and the small borrowers receives money in real time of need. This addresses the bottom most section of the Pyramid,’’ said Hitesh Kotak, Chief Executive India, Munich Re, who has also been made CEO of Middle East and Africa operations of the company recently
Mumbai:
Munich Re, the largest international reinsurer, for the first time, has launched parametric driven NatCat(natural catastrophe) cover for the small borrowers in India.
Confirming the development, Hitesh Kotak, Chief Executive India, Munich Re, who has also been made CEO of Middle East and Africa operations of the company recently, said in a first, Munich Re has launched a parametric driven NatCat cover for the small borrowers in India to fill the gap in a traditional insurance solution.
“We worked with the insurers and launched product that pays if the event happens and the trigger is met. This expedites the payout and the small borrowers receives money in real time of need. This addresses the bottom most section of the Pyramid,’’ he said.
The traditional property products needed cumbersome process of claims intimation, survey, assessment of loss and then payment, which could have taken weeks to months depending on the availability of adequate data and proofs, he explained.
Not just small borrowers, Munich Re also works with some of the largest ecommerce players offering solution for the young, tech savvy digital India, he added.
According to Kotak, Munich Re has launched quite a few innovative products in the Indian market,“ We are excited to see such wide range of opportunities, and our endeavour is to bring in solutions for the ever-evolving risk landscape.Recently we launched Battery performance warranty for Electric Vehicles. This is a unique product extending the manufacturer’s warranty providing support to the EV user. This product will be critical for growth of the Indian EV market, and we are proud that we are the first ones to be launching this,’’ he said.
Munich Re is aligned to the vision of the Indian Government and has brought products like Solar panel performance warranty to support renewable energy, Battery performance warranty for Electric vehicles, Crop Insurance leveraging technology solutions and Cyber Insurance to safeguard the Indian services and manufacturing sector.
“We are working on solutions that are important today and will be instrumental to address issues that could be critical tomorrow. One such example is cyber insurance, that we developed for Indian corporates and individuals. We not only created the product proposition, but we also worked on the entire ecosystem; working closely with insurers, cyber experts, incidence management teams to offer a complete solution,’’ he said.
Munich Re is also worked with the corporates and educated them on the vulnerabilities they have in their systems and how they can address them. This has positioned the reinsurer as one of the leading cyber reinsurers in Indian market, noted Kotak.
“We have a very balanced book in India with presence across all line of businesses. We have a strong presence across all segments including Property, Casualty, Crop, Life and Health. Munich Re will continue to support all industry requirements, be it on large complex engineering risks to a solar panel,’’ Kotak stated.
One area Munich RE would like to work with the industry and the government together is around disaster risk transfer solution.India is growing fast, and NatCat disasters push back the economy by few years, if not decades. It is important that economic impact can be addressed through well-developed insurance solutions and the government’s resources are used for development goals, suggested Kotak.
The fast growing Indian economy is exposed to the complexity of new age industries, the technological changes, the growing penetration of internet and digitisation trends bring along with it cyber threats, the climate changes and increasing trend of natural catastrophes and needs a strong and robust insurance and reinsurance sector. The insurance regulator is playing a proactive role in developing the sector in India, bringing in changes in regulations like product filing supporting innovation in market and working towards ease of business, observed Kotak.
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