Union Budget 2017: Insurance industry hails decision to hike coverage under PMFBY

The general insurance industry today hailed the Union Budget and welcomed the government’s decision to increase the coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from 30 per cent to 40 per cent in 2017-18 and 50 per cent in 2018-19.

The government has increased its spending on PMFBY to Rs 13,240 crore, which the industry believes will help bring more farmers under the insurance cover.

“Indian farmers need risk mitigation mechanism in the form of insurance and PMFBY will compensate them whenever they suffer crop loss during natural disasters,” New India Assurance CMD G Srinivasan said.

New India has underwritten premium of Rs 1,100 crore under the scheme in the current fiscal so far and it plans to increase it to Rs 2,000 crore in the next financial year.

“The increase in insurance cover under PMFBY will result in increase in premium by 15-20 per cent by the industry in the next fiscal,” National Insurance chairman and managing director, Sanath Kumar said.

ICICI Lombard MD & CEO, Bhargav Dasgupta said, “This government has done more to promote insurance as a risk mitigation tool and the decision to increase the coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to cover 40 per cent of crop area is a continuation of that approach.

“The budget aims at continuing with the government’s agenda of pursuing an inclusive and long-term development of the economy by focusing on the core enablers, including infrastructure, digitisation, rural development, among others. New initiatives, such as a proposed model on contract farming are a welcome move,” he said.

“With a view to boost the agricultural sector, the government has increased the coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from 30 per cent to 40 per cent in 2017-18 and 50 per cent in 2018-19 which will help farmers get insured,” M Ravichandran, President – Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance said.

Farmers will also benefit further with the government spending Rs 13,240 crore in fiscal 18 on crop insurance, he added.

Swiss Re, which has recently opened its India branch, believes that it’s a positive move to close the protection gap in agriculture

“Increasing allocations for Fasal Bima Yojana and targeting greater insurance coverage is a positive move to close the protection gap in agriculture,” Swiss Re India branch chief executive Kalpana Sampat said.

“A robust crop insurance framework is an important stepping stone towards food security and financial stability for farmers,” she added.

70 new general insurance products in FY17

In the current financial year, about 70 new products, including add-ons, have been launched in the general insurance segment, according to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). While several products were add-ons to the existing policies, most new policies were in crop insurance and motor insurance.

According to senior officials, general insurance sector have already received Rs 10,000-12,000 crore from crop insurance and premiums is likely to touch Rs 18,000-20,000 crore by the end of current financial year. “In the first year itself, industry is expecting to get Rs 20,000 crore through crop insurance and premiums are likely to grow in the coming year. It’s one of the new segment that general insurance industry is focusing on,” said CEO of a private general insurance company.

According to the regulator, even long-term two wheeler policies were filed by various insurers. Industry experts claim that this segment has seen premium in the range of Rs 300-500 crore.

HomeMoney Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India proposes outsourcing norms for insurers Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India proposes outsourcing norms for insurers

In order to ensure that insurers follow prudent practices for management of risks arising out of outsourcing, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has proposed new norms.

Insurers cannot outsource activities such as investment and related functions, fund management including NAV calculations, compliance with AML and KYC, product designing, decision making in underwriting and claims functions and policyholders’ grievances redressal.

Policy servicing will be the core activity for the insurer, who will be responsible for the services rendered. However, the activities that support policyholder servicing can be outsourced at the discretion of the insurer.

Where collection of premiums is outsourced, insurers will have to put in place procedures for issuance of premium acknowledgements instantaneously to policyholders on collection of premiums

Board of directors will put in place an outsourcing policy to cover the frame-work for assessment of risks involved in outsourcing including confidentiality of data and quality of services.

The board should put in place an annual review of the outsourcing pollicy, keeping in mind changes in internal and external environment impacting the out-sourcing arrangements. It will be respon-sible for degree of due diligence required for other non-core outsourcing activities.

The outsourcing arrangements will be governed by written agreements that are legally binding for a specified period, subject to periodical renewal.

Outsourcing contracts will have clauses on information and asset ownership rights, IT, data security and protection of confidential information.

The contract will have clauses on guarantee or indemnity from outsourcing service provider towards his commitment including liability for any failure.

Insurers will have to ensure that the outsourcing service provider’s security policies, procedures and controls will enable it to protect confidentiality and security of policyholder’s information.

Promotion Policy for Supervisory, Clerical & Subordinate Staff

To,

The Principal Office Bearers of Check-off qualified Class III/IV Unions / Associations of GIPSA Companies,

Dear Sir,

Please refer to our discussions in the past on the captioned subject when it was envisaged to hold discussions on review of the Promotion Policy for Supervisory, Clerical & Subordinate Staff, as suggested by some of the Unions / Associations, immediately after the Wage Revision exercise is concluded.

With the issuance of Notifications for Wage Revision, the Wage Revision Exercise is substantially coming to a close and accordingly, it is proposed to hold discussions with the Check-off qualified Unions / Associations of Class III/IV employees of GIPSA Companies on the subject.  However, for a meaningful dialogue, it would be better if you could kindly let us have a list of your suggestions for improvement in the Promotion Policy for Supervisory, Clerical & Subordinate Staff, alongwith justification thereof before we hold the dialogue.

We expect your suggestions to reach us latest by Monday, the 8th February, 2016, where after, we would convey to you the schedule for our discussions thereon.

Thanking you and looking forward to your continued co-operation, 

Regards,

A.K. Singhal

Adviser,

General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India

Ground Floor, Gate No. 2, Jeevan Tara Building,

Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001

Tel. No. 011-23744591, Fax No. 23744599

Mob. No. 83350-80094 & 93503-55005

Dear All members

Hearty Congratulations for the successful notification of Wage Revision.

This was possible due to the persistent process of meaningful negotiations with GIPSA  by our parent body NFGIE, Mumbai and our efforts for finalisation of same. We express our sincere thanks to each and every member for the whole-hearted support and co-operation extended during the struggle and trade-union agitation programmes.

We achieved our long awaited Wage Revision Notification with good satisfaction.

Final Offer of 13.5% offered at Hyderabad on 4^th Nov.15 is modified with 15% which is adjusted in Scales.

A gist of the Wage revision effective from 1^st August, 2012 is given herein below:

n  The revised FPA (Fixed Personal Allowance) shall reckon as Basic Pay for the purpose of HRA,PF, Pension, Gratuity, Encashment of EL

n  Increased HRA/CCA with Maximum limits

n  Small increase in FPA

n  Functional Allowances like Cashier,  Key handling allowances increased as:

          Cashier : Rs.1500/- pm

          Key handling/Carrying Cash- RS.700/- w.e.f 1.8.12

n  No change in granting of stagnation increments to Assistant/Sr.Asst. ie once in 2 years and once 3 years respectively, though NFGIE demanded for running scales.

n  Stagnation increments for scale I – Maximum 3 once in 3 years.

n  Stagnation  increments in Scale II -5 Maximum-once in 3 years

n  Scale III- Maximum 2 Stagnation increments                          

n  NFGIE demanded for providing Lunch Coupon.  Mr.A K  Singhal informed our NFGIE Leaders at Madurai that the decision on Lunch Coupon will take some more time.

n  After merging DA on 1.08.12- The present DA Slabs are available as on Jan 2016 is 330-  For calculation of slab apply rate 0.10% on basic pay.

n  Development officers cost ratio norms increased and  classified into population/centre wise as against earlier 2 :

         1. Cities with population exceeding 25 lacs -   8%

         2. 10 lacs and not exceeding 25 lacs            -   9%

         3. Other centres                                             -  10%

             Hardship area further relaxation 1%

        Attained the age of  55 years and completed minimum period of 15 years  –       further relaxed 2%  

n  Employees and officers recruited between 1.1.2004 & 31.3.2010 are also now covered under GI Pension scheme 1995.

NPS effective date from 1.4.2010

The Gazette copy is available in MAIL.

“Dear all,  we should say thanks to our National Federation Leaders like Mr.T K Sathish Kumar, Ernakulam, Mr.Sujit Bagchi, Kolkota for taking lots of pain to travel entire country when ever GIPSA conducted meetings on Wages.  Due to our senior/strong leaders hard work and planning we are getting this fruitful wage revision to all classes of employees”.

Also, we should express our sincere thanks to our Delhi Leaders Mr. O P Rajodia , Mr. Murari Singh Prasad, Mr. V K Tandon for regular follow-up with GIPSA and day-to-day updates, because due to such leaders only NFGIE is the first and only Union that has given authentic and live communication directly from ministry.

For getting the latest information, our state  own person and NFGIE General Secretary Mr. P S Bajpai has played very crucial role and NFGIE we are sure will scale greater heights in future under his able & dynamic leadership.

Last but not the least, my sincere thanks to my Hyderabad and Vizag RO Office Bearers for making all arrangements viz., accommodation,  pickup and dropping National Federation Leaders to attend meetings at Hyderabad   as 1^st round and final round of Wage Negotiations were conducted at Hyderabad only.                                                                                       

It is our practice that on wage revision we used to collect Levy on Arrears in order to strengthen the financial position of our Union. As you know, ours is the only Union among all GIPSA member-companies  having membership in “all Classes“ with good unity and understanding among all classes of employees. Hence it is quite impossible to serve a sizable membership in both Regions of Hyderabad and Vizag and also to extend financial support to our parent body NFGIE. Thus it is highly difficult without sufficient and sound finance and timely funding to run the day-to-day affairs of the Union/Association. It is possible only through donations and voluntary contributions in kind apart from regular payment of timely subscription and membership fees being done by all our members whole-heartedly.

All those Units/members who are yet to remit their annual membership fees are also requested to clear their old dues/arrears by approaching their respective Unit Secretaries / Representatives for which we shall be thankful to all of you.

NOW WE REQUEST ALL THE MEMBERS TO CONTRIBUTE  LEVY ON WAGE AREAS WITH A MINIMUM OF 2% OF THE NET ARREARS AMOUNT AND SUBJECT TO:

1.CLASS I OFFICERS    -  MAXIMUM RS.5000/-

2.CLASS II OFFICERS  -   MAXIMUM RS.4000/-

3.CLASS III                 -   MAXIMUM RS.3500/-

4.CLASS IV                  -   MAXIMUM RS.2000/-

WE REQUEST ALL THE MEMBERS TO PLEASE CONTIRUBUTE IMMEIDATELY ON  RECEIPT OF ARREARS AS WE HAVE TO SEND THE AMOUNT HO NFGIE TO MEET THEIR EXPENSES.  ALSO YOU ARE WELL AWARE THAT WE ARE NOT COLLECTING ANY AMOUNTS FROM MEMBERS FREQUETNLY AND FOR REGULAR TOURING/VISITS WE REQUIRE FUNDING OF UNION.  PLEASE COLLECT THE AMOUNT AND DEPOSIT IN OUR UNION A/C AS MENTIONED BELOW AND INFORM THE DETAILS TO ENABLE US TO ISSUE RECEIPTS.

A/C NAME:   GIC EMPLOYEES UNION (AP)

A/C NO.700010083078

IFSC- VYSA0007000

ING VYSYS BANK-KOTAK- S P ROAD BRANCH

Yours faithfully

Sd/-XX XX XX XX

(T GOPALA KRISHNA)

GENERAL SECRETARY
GICEU-ANDHRA PRADESH

CC TO Mr.V Gopala Krishnaiah, Regional Secretary,VRO

CC to Sri M Jagannadha Rao,  President,GICEU-AP

APPROVAL OF WAGE REVISION FOR GIPSA COMPANIES

To
 
The Principal Office Bearers of All Check off Qualified Unions/Associations,
 
Dear Sir,

We had informed you earlier of our having approached the Government with the mandate received from the Governing Board for Wage Revision of employees of GIPSA Companies after taking into account the inputs received from all of you in our interaction held at Hyderabad from 4th to 6th November, 2015.  

Our reference to the Government was submitted on 12th November, 2015 and as per the information gathered by us, we understand the Hon'ble Finance Minister has since approved, in principle, the proposal placed before him in this regard.  

The process of Notification shall now begin and, as per our past experience, is likely to be concluded within 2 weeks hereof.
 
We would keep you informed of further developments in the matter as and when found appropriate.
 

Regards,

A.K. Singhal

Adviser,

General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India

Ground Floor, Gate No. 2, Jeevan Tara Building,

Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001

Tel. No. 011-23744591, Fax No. 23744599

Mob. No. 83350-80094 & 93503-55005

ABOUT INSURANCE

What is Insurance?

It is a system by which the losses suffered by a few are spread over many, exposed to similar risks. Insurance is a protection against financial loss arising on the happening of an unexpected event.

Top

Why do I need Insurance?

Insurance is a hedge against the occurrence of unforeseen incidents. Insurance products help you in not only mitigating risks but also helps you by providing a financial cushion against adverse financial burdens suffered.

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What does General Insurance do for me?

Accidents... illness... fire... financial securities are the things you'd like to worry about any time. General Insurance provides you the much-needed protection against such unforeseen events. Unlike Life Insurance, General Insurance is not meant to offer returns but is a protection against contingencies. Under certain Acts of Parliament, some types of insurance like Motor Insurance and Public Liability Insurance have been made compulsory.

Top

How much Insurance do I need?

It is very important to have adequate amount of coverage for each insurance policy. For any asset or property insurance, the value of the asset based on market value or reinstatement value should be taken into consideration before deciding Sum Insured. If the Sum Insured is not adequate, the percentage representing the uncovered portion of the asset is to be borne by the insured.

Top

What all can I get covered under insurance?

Almost everything that has a financial value in your life and has a probability of getting lost, stolen or damaged, can be covered through insurance. Property (both movable and immovable), vehicle, cash, household goods, health, dishonesty and also your liability towards others can be covered.

Top

Why should one cover oneself immediately?

Accidents and mishaps can occur anytime and anywhere. It is important to identify the risks faced and insure oneself against these at the earliest.

Top

What is Premium?

Premium is the fixed amount of sum paid over the period by the insured to the insurance company to take insurance policy and to complete the contract of insurance.

Top

Why should I fill up proposal form for buying Insurance?

Insurance is a contract between the insured and the insurer. The proposal form is the basis of contract and it contains all the required information for the preparation of the policy which is a contract document.

Top

What is Underwriting?

It is the consideration of material fact to asses the risk and to take the decision whether to accept the risk for insurance contract and if so at what rate of premium.

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What is deductible?

The amount, which the insured has to bear in all cases and this amount is first, deducted from the total assessed payable claims amount before determining insurance company's liability.

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What is Reinsurance?

It is an arrangement by which insurance companies spread their risk with other underwriters or reinsurance companies called Reinsurance.

6 Things you must know about Employee Provident Fund

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is one of the most common forms of investment among salaried individuals. A small part of your salary is invested in EPF and that amount is matched by your employer every month. 

The employees and employers contribution is maintained by the Employees Provident Find Organisation (EPFO), under the administrative control of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

Here’s all you need to know about Employee Provident Fund :

Equity: Since the EPF is invested in fixed income alone, it is expected to offer a good rate of return when invested in equities. The EPFO has also started investing in stock market through exchange-traded funds. The government has approved for 5-15% of EPF money to be invested in the volatile stock market.

Nomination: Did you know that you can assign a nominee for the amount of provident fund you’ve been investing every month? The nominee listed in your account will be contacted at the time of death and handed over all your money. The Form 2 provided by the EPFO department will allow you to nominate and update nomination changes.

Employee Pension Scheme (EPS):  12% of your salary every month goes into your provident fund. However, out of the money your employer matches, 8.33% of it or a maximum of Rs 1,250 goes into your Provident fund and the rest into your pension scheme. You are liable for pension only if you’ve survived 9.5 years of work life and your EPF has been transferred when you changed jobs.

Withdrawal: Did you know that it’s illegal to withdraw your EPF amount when you’re switching jobs? Yes, you can only withdraw your provident fund money if you don’t have a job at the time of withdrawal. You are only supposed to transfer your EPF account when you are changing jobs.

Opt out of EPF: If your basic salary is more than Rs 15,000 then you have an option to opt out of employee provident fund. However, you will have to make this choice at the start of your job. If you’ve been a part of the EPFO family even once, then you don’t get the choice of opting out.

RTI: If there is any kind of information you would like to know about employee provident fund, all you have to do is access your right to information. You can file an RTI application for any issues regarding your provident fund, be it transfer, withdrawal or balance enquiry.

OUTCOME OF JOINT MEETING HELD ON O4-11-2015

Dear Friends,

Further to our earlier news we are giving some main issues discussed with jointly

with GIPSA Management.. Mr Sujit Bagchi , President and Mr P S Bajpai, General Secretary on behalf of NFGIE attend the meeting.

Outcome of the Jt. . meeting

... Demands for HRA and CCA without ceiling 

Education Loan for children with 8.5% interest.

Cash handling allowance for MO

Newspaper reimbursement for Class III & IV

Upto 3 days SL without Medical Certificate.

Lunch Coupon --- are some of the benefits that they may be mooted after consultation with LIC.

Denied :  LTS Encashment.

Further revision of Basic and DA portion of FPA

Management will have a round of discussion on amendments of Promotion Policy

PLLI may be split into Profit linked and Productivity Linked.

Seperate Scheme for MO incentives. Paternity Leave  will be decided in GM(P)

meeting  seperately.

Detail circular follows.

DEBASISH BANERJEE

ORG.SECY/NFGIE

DISCUSSIONS ON WAGE REVISION OF EMPLOYEES IN GIPSA COs. / GIC

19 October 2015 

To 

The Principal Office Bearers of All Check Off Qualified Unions/Associations of Member Companies,

Dear Sir,

Please refer to the discussions we had in the Meeting held on 3rd March, 2015 at Hyderabad on the subject, at which lot of ground was covered by both the sides and it was agreed to hold further discussions to cover the rest of the ground to reach finality on the issue. 

Keeping in view the observations made in the said Meeting, the Governing Board of GIPSA, in telephonic mandate to us, has desired us to organize the next round of deliberations on the subject, at which the CMDs would be meeting the Check Off Qualified Unions/Associations of our Member Companies in a Joint Meeting.  

The Joint Meeting of the CMDs with the Unions/Associations is scheduled to be held from 10.30 a.m. onwards on 29th October, 2015 at Lotus Room, Hotel Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai, at which each Union/Association is to be represented by 02 Office Bearers. 

The Meeting shall be followed by, and conclude with, lunch.

We would request you to kindly attend the said Joint Meeting and join us for lunch accordingly and nominate your 02 Office Bearers for the same per return of mail.

In view of the short notice for the said Meeting, in case journey tickets for any of  your 2 delegates are not available by the entitled mode of travel, they may avail air travel by the apex fare by following the procedure  and approaching the respective competent authority prescribed under the Rules for attending this meeting, for which purpose a copy of this mail is also being endorsed to GMs (P) of our Member Companies.

We look forward to your constructive participation and fruitful discussions at the Meeting.

Regards,

A.K. Singhal

Adviser,

General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India

Ground Floor, Gate No. 2, Jeevan Tara Building,

Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001

Tel. No. 011-23744591, Fax No. 23744599

Mob. No. 83350-80094 & 93503-55005

LIC WAGE REVISION TALKS ON 16TH & 17TH OCTOBER, 2015 IN MUMBAI

10.10.2015

Dear All,

LIC management has called all joint front constituents for final discussion on wage revision. The talks are at Mumbai on 16th & 17th October 2015.

In view of above invitation for talks, it has been decided by all constituent unions in Joint Forum to suspend the current agitational programmes (including strike action on 14th October 2015).

The Text of the Letter from LICI Management to all Unions as below:-

Ref: - CO/ER/A/ISS Date: -10.10.2015
Dear Sir, 
Re: Final discussions on Wage Revision. 
It has been decided to hold the final discussions on wage revision with the Employees’ Unions /Associations at Mumbai. The details of program are as under: 

(1) Joint session on 16.10.2015 at 10.00 a.m. 

(2) Individual discussions on 16th / 17th October 2015. 

We invite your Association to participate in the discussions. You are requested to send the names of maximum three representatives for the joint session. Two more persons may further be nominated for the individual discussions, details of which will be informed subsequently. 

Please send us the names of the representatives in the following format by 12.10.2015. Sl No. Name SR No. Designation Designation in Union/ Association Place of posting Zone Mobile No & email id Joint / Individual Session 1 2 3 4 5 Venue of the joint session and discussion will be: Y. B. Chavan Centre, Cultural Hall, 4th Floor, Gen. Jagannathrao Bhosle Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400 021 

The participants will be entitled to TE/DA, wherever applicable, as per rules. Other details including that in respect of stay arrangements for outstation representatives will be informed shortly. 
Yours faithfully, 
Executive Director (Personnel)

From : TARUN KANTI SEN GUPTA

           VICE-PRESIDENT,  NFGIE , MUMBAI