New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and National Insurance Company have more than 10 lakh motor accident cases pending against them. In an effort to lower these pending cases and to settle claims, the four public sector insurance companies have launched a motor third party claims settlement centre in Kochi.
These state owned insurance companies further plan to open 50 such centres across various locations in India. Earlier in March this year, they had launched a similar centre in Cuttack. Through this centre, they have been able to disburse Rs 2.93 crores as settlement so far.
These insurers will also launch two pilot centres at Mehsana and Jaipur. G Srinivasan, Chairman of General Insurers’ Public Sector Association (GIPSA) said, “India is considered the world’s accident capital and has overtaken China in rate of accidents. About 1.2 lakh fatalities take place and this was a matter of concern,” he said. He also mentioned that 50% of the vehicles on the roads are not insured and police authorities should take note of this.
New India Assurance and the other three state owned insurance companies have a large market share in general insurance business which includes motor insurance as well. These insurers receive huge accident claim requests on a daily basis, and launching a common mechanism for claim settlement will help the policyholders as well as the insurers.
