Insurers talking to NPCIL to offer cover under inclusion drive

MUMBAI: State-owned non-life insurers are in talks with the National Payment Corporation of India Ltd ( NPCIL) to discuss modalities of providing the proposed Rs 1-lakh personal accident cover along with each bank account opened as part of the PM's financial inclusion drive.

Under the PM's financial inclusion plan to be launched on August 28, each new bank account would come with a RuPay debit card and carry a personal accident cover of Rs 1 lakh to be provided by non-life insurers, free of cost.

"The RuPay card must remain active for 45 days after opening of the bank account to claim the Rs 1 lakh account cover which will be provided for free by general insurers. It means that there must be at least one transaction using the debit card, either as an ATM withdrawal or an online purchase," NPCIL chief executive AP Hota said.

A senior New India Assurance official said that all four state-owned non-life insurers are in talks with the NPCIL to finalise modalities to provide the personal accident cover which is likely to come free of cost to those who open bank accounts from August 28.

However, the official said that insurers' actual role in providing micro-insurance would happen only from 2015, or during the second phase of the programme.

The development came after an important meeting held by the financial services secretary G S Sandhu in New Delhi today, which was attended by the heads of all state-owned non-life insurers to review preparations of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, United Insurance Corporation Chairman and Managing Director Milind Kharat said after the meeting.

"We've been asked to work with banks for the scheme and also sell micro-insurance products like pumpset insurance and cattle insurance through our micro-insurance agents as part of the scheme," Kharat said.