By Ashwin Manikandan
MUMBAI, Sept 4 (Reuters) – The devastating flood in Nepal last week could result in commercial insurance losses exceeding 20 billion Nepali rupees ($132.3 million), with hydropower projects accounting for most claims, according to a top official at one of the country’s leading insurers.
The insurance cover, when paid out, covers losses borne by the operators of the power plants.
Life insurance, personal accident and workers’ compensation claims are expected separately as authorities verify deaths and missing persons in inaccessible areas.
The disaster on Nepal’s border with China’s Tibet region caused an estimated $2.56 billion in economic losses in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people, the country’s disaster authority chief told Reuters on Friday, leaving more than 1,200 dead and many more missing.
Eleven Nepali hydropower projects lie in the affected region, some covered by standard commercial insurance policies that are still being assessed, Toton Chakraborty, CEO of Oriental Insurance Company Nepal, told Reuters.
Oriental Insurance Nepal, a unit of the New Delhi-based Indian insurer, is among the leading insurers in the region.
“Hydropower projects along the affected river corridor have suffered the largest damage. In many cases, access roads and above-ground infrastructure have been washed away,” he said.
Projects including Rasuwagadhi, Upper Trishuli-3A, Chilime and Devighat, were directly affected, while assessments at five others are ongoing, he said.
Data from the Nepal Insurance Authority show the regulator has so far received 583 flood-related claims worth 25.87 billion Nepalese rupees ($171.13 million) as of August 31.
Chakraborty said these figures largely reflect insured exposure rather than final claims, which will only be clear once detailed surveys are completed.
Claims could rise further if repairs delay project commissioning, as some policies compensate developers for lost revenue resulting from postponed commercial operations, he said.
Nepal’s non-life insurance market is small by global standards. The country’s 14 non-life insurers generated premiums of about 5.3 billion Nepali rupees ($35.06 million) during July-August, regulatory data showed, compared with 314 billion Indian rupees ($3.3 billion) written by Indian insurers during a similar period.
The market is supported by domestic reinsurers Nepal Re and Himalayan Re, alongside international players including India’s GIC Re and Germany’s Hannover Re.
REINSURERS WARY OF HIMALAYAN RISK
The floods could have lasting implications for insurance coverage of Himalayan infrastructure, four industry executives said.
The Himalayan region faces severe risks from earthquakes and any future glacial floods, a senior U.N. official told Reuters this week.
“The recent mountain floods in South Asia may lead insurers to further review hydropower and infrastructure risks, particularly in highly exposed locations,” said Benjamin Ng, power leader for Asia at Aon, an international insurance broker.
Insurers may increasingly impose exclusions, lower sub-limits and narrow coverage, resulting in higher premiums and more selective underwriting, Ng said.
Other recent Himalayan catastrophes include the 2023 glacial lake outburst flood in India’s Sikkim and the flash flood in the northern Indian state of Uttrakhand in 2021.
The latest floods could reshape industry views on risk accumulation and glacial lake outburst flood exposure, said Sanjay Mokashi, chief underwriting officer at Indian state-owned reinsurer GIC Re.
($1 = 151.1700 Nepalese rupees)
(Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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