ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company has been given the mandate to provide weather-based crop insurance for rabi season (2010-11) in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The insurance company will cover 69 districts — 30 loanee districts (farmers who have taken loans) and 39 non-loanee districts. The major crops that ICICI Lombard covers for the season are winter paddy, cotton, wheat, mustard, barley, maize, onion, potato, tomato, lentil, peas, arhar, jowar, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, methi, isabgol, brinjal among other crops.
Weather-based crop insurance provides cover against weather-related risks such as excess or deficit rainfall, variations in temperature and fluctuations in humidity. This scheme facilitates immediate compensation based on certified data collected from independent third party bodies such as Indian Meteorological 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.
ICICI Lombard in 2009-10 insured over 29 lakh farmers and over 19 lakh acres across 14 states.
Alok Agarwal, director (corporate), ICICI Lombard General Insurance, said, "Agriculture is a significant contributor to the Indian economy, accounting for 24% of the Indian GDP. The rural economy faces economic strain due to variation in agriculture production. Weather insurance protects the farmer against financial loss arising out of adverse weather conditions. We consider it to be our privilege to have been chosen to provide weather-based crop insurance for farmers in 10 states."
