Life Insurers have so far shelled out Rs. 11,060.5 crore to settle Covid-related death claims, a huge chunk of which came this financial year when the second wave ravaged through the country, data compiled by Life Insurance Council – a representative body of the insurers – has revealed.
As of October 21, life insurers settled a little over 130,000 Covid-19 related death claims. About 140,000 Covid-related claims have been made so far, amounting to Rs. 12,948.98 crore of which 93.57 per cent by volume and 85.42 per cent by value were settled.
In FY21, the industry received 22,205 such claims worth Rs. 1,644.56 crore, which amounted to 0.3 per cent of total premium income of the year. Of these, 21,854 death claims amounting to Rs. 1,492.02 crore were settled.
While the death claims have not had an impact on the solvency of the insurers, it has dented their profitability.
Insurers have been keeping excess mortality reserves and the extra provisioning has resulted in muted profitability for most, especially in the April-June quarter (Q1FY22), when the second wave hit.
