The general insurance industry is unlikely to see much losses arising from the cyclonic storm Phailin that hit the eastern coast on Saturday night, as most commercial installations and ports along Odisha and Andhra are relatively less affected coupled with poor retail penetration in the region, say industry officials.
They, however, said not only the domestic general insurance industry is closely watching the event, but global re-insurers are also having a close tab on the developments in the east coast. Around 9 pm on Saturday night, the very severe cyclonic storm ‘Phailin’ had the landfall in Gopalpur in Odisha. Before the cyclonic storm hit the coast, some people lost their lives even as the authorities evacuated over five lakh (at the last count), from the storm affected areas of the two States.
“Though it’s very difficult to predict the amount of losses that will arise from ‘Phailin’, we don’t expect huge losses from this calamity,” Bajaj Allianz General Insurance managing director and chief executive Tapan Singhel told PTI.
According to sources, key installations like the Paradip Port, Indian Oil refinery, plants of Essar Steel, among others in Odisha and the Vizag Port in Andhra have not faced much damages due to the super storm.