The insurance claims of the three Mumbai hotels — Oberoi, Taj and Trident — damaged in the 26/11 terror attacks, are expected to be settled from the terror insurance pool by March 2010, according to sources in General Insurance Corporation of India.
While nearly Rs 300 crore of claims were yet to be settled, the inflow into the GIC administered terror pool by March was expected to be in the range of Rs 100-150 crore, a senior GIC officer told Business Line.
“We hope to discharge the entire claim amount by March,” he said. The payments, made so far, were on an unaccounted basis and the final amounts were likely to emerge shortly as the hotels were in the final stages of repairs, he added.
“Our total claim outgo of about Rs 200 crore has already been refilled by fresh premium contributions from all the general insurance companies in the last few months,” the officer said.
The new premium contributions during December-March were expected to be nearly Rs 75 crore, he said, adding, “We would also earn interest accruals on deposits of the premium pool and the total inflow by March is expected to be in the range of Rs 100-150 crore.”
Damage estimates
The damages in the 26/11 attack were feared to have wiped out a sizeable chunk of the pool. The total size of the terror pool stands at Rs 1,500 crore as on date. Of the estimated claims of about Rs 500 crore, Rs 15-20 crore would go to the shops damaged inside the hotels. ICICI Lombard had found that one portion of the Nariman House was covered terror insurance policy, but, no claims had been lodged so far, the GIC sources said. Tata AIG, New India Assurance, ICICI Lombard and Iffco-Tokio were the insurers to the three hotels.
While the foreign reinsurance rates for the terror cover had shot up by 30 per cent during the renewal of contract in April this year, the rates were unlikely to change in 2010, the GIC officer said. “The international reinsurance market is unlikely to hike rates next year as there were limited numbers of terror incidents in 2009,” he said.
The insurance companies had hiked terror insurance premiums from 22 paise to 30 paise for a cover of Rs 1,000 after the reinsurance rates jumped in April.