Indians offered insurance to cover costs of rising temperatures, adverse weather

By Henry Gale

April 28 - (The Insurer) - Indians are being offered insurance against the impact of high temperatures on their air conditioning costs or gig economy incomes under parametric policies from Bajaj Allianz.

Bajaj Allianz developed the ClimateSafe set of products with insurtech Plutas AI. It provides short-term coverage against excess rainfall, low temperatures and high temperatures, with automatic quoting and binding.

For example, gig workers or drivers can buy up to 30 days of coverage against hot or rainy days that would affect their income, Bajaj Allianz's head of agribusiness Ashish Agrawal said. Payouts are up to 500 rupees ($5.88) per day that the temperature or rainfall exceeds a certain threshold during the policy period.

The insurer is also offering heat insurance to homeowners and businesses. They can use the cover to protect against higher air conditioning costs associated with hotter temperatures, with coverage limits of up to 15,000 rupees.

Bajaj Allianz says that all ClimateSafe claims will be settled automatically within seven days, using data from sources such as the India Meteorological Department and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' ERA5 dataset.

Axa Climate's head of India and Southeast Asia Panjaj Tomar, who spoke at the product's launch event, described ClimateSafe as "the very first parametric insurance product for retail customers in India."