HDYERABAD: The General Insurance Council, a self-regulatory body of the country’s general insurers, has announced a one-time exemption for all businesses from losing their fire and property insurance coverage for keeping facilities shut down for a month, considering the national lockdown.
As per standard policy terms, fire and property coverage ceases to continue if the building or property insured is unoccupied for 30 days. The insurance body’s decision brings relief to millions of businesses across the country shuttered due to the lockdown to contain Covid-19 pandemic.
The one-time relaxation covers all policyholders whose property is unoccupied on or after March 25, when the lockdown started, till May 3, the council said in a circular issued late on Tuesday.
“Properties of such policyholders shall be deemed to be covered subject to the policy being in force,” it said.
While state-owned insurers exempted their clients from such conditions, some private sector non-life insurers had last week started warning businesses about the clause of unoccupancy and cessation of work impacting continuation of policies.
April 30, 2020