Nepal insurers face record claims over Gen-Z protest damages

Kathmandu: The destruction of properties during the recent Gen-Z protests in Nepal has triggered the largest-ever insurance claims in Nepal’s history from a single incident, with claims reaching close to NPR 21 billion to date.

According to data released by the Nepal Insurance Authority, the regulator of the insurance sector, on Thursday, non-life insurers have received 1,984 claims from insured individuals with claims of NPR 20.7 billion by September 16, which is a record high for damages in a single incident.

With assessments of losses being undergone, the claims are expected to rise further. The claims received by insurers so far is more than the claims during the 2015 earthquake, when claims had reached NPR 16.5 billion. Nepal had also launched an insurance scheme in 2020 to cover the risk of COVID-19, and insurers had received claims exceeding NPR 16 billion, according to the regulator.

The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, a branch of India’s Oriental Insurance, has received the largest amount of claims till September 16, according to the data released by the authority.

The company alone has received claims of NPR 5.14 billion across 40 cases. The bulk of this is said to have come from Hotel Hilton Kathmandu, which suffered one of the heaviest losses during the protests.

Siddhartha Premier Insurance and Shikhar Insurance, IGI Prudential Insurance, Sagarmatha Lumbini and Company come into the top five positions in terms of receiving the highest amount of claims.

Some of the major business enterprises alone have reported damages worth over NPR 60 billion, according to an official of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), a business body, which is collecting details of damages to the properties of the private sector.

The latest protests saw major properties gutted by fire, including the Hilton Kathmandu Hotel, several outlets of Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket, the largest retail chain of Nepal, the headquarters of Ncell, the private sector telecommunication company, an assembly plant and vehicle showroom of Chaudhary Group, owned by Binod Chaudhary, Nepal’s only billionaire listed by Forbes, among others.

IANS