Gem traders eye terror insurance after blasts

MUMBAI: Diamond traders and jewellers at Zaveri Bazar and Opera House are showing increased interest in getting insurance cover against terror strikes following last Wednesday's attacks on two of the city's more important commercial hubs.Several businessmen, both big and small, are reportedly queuing up to ask about the little-known, Rs 750-crore pool being collected by the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) of India. Those who avail of this government-created terror cover pay a premium that goes into the fund that has a cap of Rs 750 crore. Claims are paid out in case of a terror strike.Industry experts, who cater to larger firmswith a turnover of over Rs 10 crore, say that at least 15 to 20 diamondcompanies from the Opera House area have shown interest in buying the GIC'sJewellers Block Policy, which covers terror risks through the combinedpool."Although the valuations of the assets at Opera House are muchhigher than Rs 750 crore, and hence that amount is insufficient to cover majorlosses, the policy still has its advantages and is easily available. After aseries of bombings in these areas, companies have become aware of the threatsthey face from terrorists," said insurance advisor KhushalJhaveri.Jhaveri's firm offers the GIC policy to major diamond firms,only 20 of which in Mumbai have availed of this dedicated cover against terrorstrikes. "There are at least 300 big and small firms trading from Mumbai, butnot many have bothered to acquire cover against terror attacks," headded.At Zaveri Bazaar, traders on Monday discussed ways and meansof obtaining stand-alone terrorism policies. These policies, unlike the blockpolicy which covers only stationary assets, also cover goods in transit. In thediamond trade, goods are usually in transit when with brokers and angadias.However, stand-alone policies are usually thrice as expensive as the combinedblock policy."We also discussed how insurance companies offerrebates if the jeweller has a CCTV or alarm system set up in the work premises.This is the need of the hour and we discussing all possible ways of acquiringthese policies," said a member of the Bombay Bullion Association, KanayaKakad.Most insurance agents for jewellers said global diamondcompanies get cover against disasters abroad, including bomb blasts and terrorattacks. Till the triple strikes -- which killed 20 people at ZaveriBazar and Opera House -- local companies and individual jewellers were largelyunaware of the dedicated covers on offer against terror. "The least anindividual jeweller could have done is take a personal accident policy thatcovers terrorism. But nobody bothered to do that," said insurance advisor AnshulBhandari.