Your vehicle insurance details will soon be just an SMS away

HYDERABAD, NOV. 6:  

Soon, when a traffic policeman asks for your car or bike insurance, you won't have to worry if you do not have the papers with you. A simple text message from your mobile phone will retrieve the details instantly, thanks to an IRDA initiative.

"We will be providing vehicle insurance information to all the stakeholders through Short Messaging Service (SMS) and web-based applications of the Insurance Information Bureau,'' said M. Ramaprasad, Member (Non-Life), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), speaking to Business Line on Wednesday.

The beta version of the service has already been launched while the web-based application can be accessed anytime on the portal of the Insurance Information Bureau.

The database of all insured vehicles across the country is now available in digitised form and regularly updated. Until now, verification was done only by checking a hard copy of the insurance policy.

The digital service is beneficial to all the stakeholders. . "In case of an accident, victims can get to know the insurance company details if they know the number of the vehicle,'' said the IRDA official.

"We are talking to Road Transport Authorities and police in different States to share data so it will be easy to track down uninsured vehicles,'' he said. Some components of motor insurance, such as third-party insurance, are mandatory.

It would also help insurers, which sometimes have to grapple with multiple claims in damage and theft cases. This can be brought down if data on claims are available.

POLICY DATABASE

As the system will have a database of insurance claims made/honoured, cases of bad or negligent driving can be ascertained by the insurers before deciding on the premium to be charged.

IRDA is monitoring the submission of data by each underwriting office on a daily basis to ensure the smooth functioning of the system.

Med insurance: Can’t pre-declare rates, cos tell HC

Mumbai: The General Insurance Council (GIC) representing 27 non-life insurance companies told the Bombay high court on Thursday that it cannot pre-declare package rates for 42 standard ailments in policy documents.      A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha was hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist Gaurang Damani on medical insurance woes faced by people. 'Pre-declare insurance rates for transparency'  Mumbai:An HC bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha at a hearing on October 22, 2013 had made insurance companies parties to a PIL on medical insurance woes, seeking that they pre-declare their package rates.      Expressing the inability of the firms to implement the court's order, GIC's advocate Asim Vidyarthi said: "It is difficult to grade hospitals. Also, hospitals do not come under any common regulatory authority and do not accept package rates proposed by insurance companies."      He also said insurance firms cannot work out package rates for "so many ailments". This was contradicted by Damani, who said that the National Insurance Company has a contract with the state for the Jeevandayi Arogya Yojna, where they have declared package rates for 971 procedures. Vidyarthi sought time to file a detailed affidavit elaborating reasons for refusal to pre-declare package rates.      Damani submitted that package rates should be pre-declared in order to bring transparency to the consumer who will know the exact amount to be reimbursed. "Then the consumer can decide whether he can take treatment at a hospital like Breach Candy or a local nursing home," said Damani, adding that a dispute on this has been going on for several years between hospitals and insurance firms. "Insurance companies can declare package rates according to the policy's sum assured," he added.      The court also asked the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) why it does not put a clause on pre-declaration in the regulation itself so that insurance firms have to comply. IRDA's advocate Paritosh Jaiswal said the authority accepts the court's order but insurance firms have expressed their inability to do it. "You are not doing it because you think it is the court's baby and not yours," remarked Justice Shah. The next hearing is on January 9, 2014.— Rosy Sequeira

WOMEN IN CHARGE ‘Social biases raise challenges for women’

Bangalore: "If you look at where I have been lucky, it is in my underlying drive to keep going when things become difficult, because I wanted to be a part of making something happen, of being involved in the healthcare world." 

    That's Terri Bresenham, president & CEO of GE Healthcare India. Bresenham came to India two years ago to take on this role. Prior to this, she was vice-president of molecular imaging for GE Healthcare globally, where she led the company's exploration into detecting disease earlier. 
    Bresenham joined GE, soon after her university, as an Edison Engineer. GE's Edison Engineering Development Programme is an intensive programme for college graduates who have a passion for technology, and a drive for technical excellence. She then progressed through engineering and product management roles, and went on to lead sales & marketing of GE's women health business for the introduction of digital mammography, and GE's Lunar Inc for solutions in osteoporosis and metabolic health. 
    Bresenham has three daughters. She says in her career, some of the most challenging times came when she and her husband decided to start a family. She had her first child four years into her career. 
    "That time, the insurance coverage was for 24 hours in hospital, not from the time you were admitted and up to the birth of the baby. Unfortunately, my first child had a long labour, so I didn't stay in hospital 
very long after I gave birth. I had a healthy baby. You never know how you feel about having a child, but I remember distinctly that after the third day I was feeling bored and wanted to go back to work. I did go back to work fairly soon after that," she says. 
    She also remembers an instance when a male colleague, whose wife was pregnant at the same time that she was, asked Bresenham, "So you're looking forward to staying home?" She replied she was coming back. He said his wife was looking forward to staying home. "I said it's good for her. I asked him whether he was going to stay home. He said of course not. I said that's how I feel." Social biases like these, she says, raises challenges for women. 
    She says the fastest career 
progression in the US happens typically between ages 30 and 40. But that's also the time when couples start families. 
    "I think this is why women have to stay in the workforce during that period even though it's challenging. So much of learning happens in that time frame, you get so many mid-tier roles and responsibilities. If you can survive that, you get enhanced opportunities, can go to whichever level you desire." 
    She said she was able to overcome the challenges partly because of the tremendous support from her husband. "We also had wonderful support structures. We didn't have the support of the extended family, but we had great caregivers who were like adopted family." 
    Bresenham says women in India perhaps face more challenges than women elsewhere. "The social structures are harder for women in India. There are expectations outside work. In Europe and US, there are support structures like day care centres in companies. There are a lot of areas where kids get support from more than just their parents. There is general acceptance of women not being primary caregiver at all times."

NEVER SAY DIE: GE Healthcare India president & CEO Terri Bresenham

Know thyself—the new mantra for lifeloggers

Wearable tech devices now track every move you make — from heart rate and footsteps to calories burnt. Even the number of times you slouch in the office chair is recorded by a sensor. An always-on society is busy converting life into bytes of data     British TV show 'Black Mirror' is about a dystopian future, one that illustrates the dark side of technology and where it can take us if we don't watch out. One of the episodes is set in an alternate reality in which an implanted grain records everything you do, hear, see or experience — creating the ultimate life log.      And we are well on our way there. A life log — or a daily diary — is nothing new but technology has taken the idea and sucked all approximation out of it. It has made it exact: life as a pie chart or a bar graph. How many steps did you walk today? How much time did you spend in transit this month? Did you play enough sport this week? What was your heart rate at 9 am today? What was your temperature? All these questions are being answered by numerous devices strapped on various body parts — from bio-sensing t-shirts and posturecorrecting straps to heart rate monitors and pulse-measuring watches. Taking lifelogging to a new extreme are tiny cameras that automatically take a photo of your existence every few seconds of the day.      "So, do you remember what you were doing this day last year?" asks Vishal Gondal, entrepreneur and angel investor who swears by his devices. "I do because I check in everywhere I go. I can just go to Facebook to see what I was doing. I have over 2,000 food photographs. I can tell you exactly where I was, who I was with, what I ate, how long it took me to get there and every detail of the rest of my day."      Gondal uses a water bottle that gives him a daily target of water intake, a Lumoback that reminds him to sit up straight every time he slouches, a Basis B1 watch that is a wristbased health tracker and a Fitbit Flex that measures his sleep and activity. He is eagerly awaiting Scanadu Scout that can measure all body vitals just by resting on the forehead.      The fascination with what has been described as "turning warm flesh into cold arithmetic" is now a movement — the quantified self movement . 'Numbers don't lie' is the primary motto behind self-quantification. And nothing is more satisfying to a number geek than a pattern. As most converts say — what cannot be measured cannot be managed. And much of self quantification's goal is self improvement. Asfaq Tapia, 30, who works in digital advertising in Mumbai, wanted to lose weight and sleep better. His Fitbit Flex helped him lose 6 kg in five months and change his sleep habits. "I like measurable results. My job involves numbers. I know how many people visit a website also, but I don't know anything about my body. That is the first thing I should be tracking." Tapia is also a member of the self-quantification group in Mumbai that now has 100 plus members.      Kuldeep Dhankar, 34, employed with a telecom company, has been tracking his life since 2005, much before self-quantification became a way of life. He converted his father, an ex-navy man, also. "I gave him this watch that measures heart rates and sends all information to the phone via Bluetooth," says Dhankar.      Gondal also converted his father to a heart rate monitoring watch after his recent surgery. "His resting heart rate went up to 100. When I took all the data to the doctor he was surprised that I could do this. Dad's HR went up in afternoons and evenings. So, they tried a different medicine which worked well," says Gondal.      Most of these self quantification devices veer towards health and lifestyle improvement. Some journaling apps do help users track their daily schedules — time spent with family, at work, in transit, in the park, on the phone — but most are geared towards health analytics. "There was a time when these would be only in the hands of doctors but increasingly these technologies will be in the hands of the consumer. By monitoring groups across geographies on their behavior we will be able to not only prevent but also to predict disease," says Prof Ramesh Raskar, MIT Media Lab, who believes that Fitbit-like devices are only the beginning. Gondal hopes that soon insurance companies also start linking such health measurements toinsurance premiums.      However, relentless quantification can be tiring. Skeptics say that such servility to gadgets erodes the spontaneity to life. Farzana Dudhwala, a 24-year-old PhD student at Oxford University who is studying the relationship between self-quantifying technologies and the self, says that she was bored of Fitbit in two months.      "The device was good to understand where I stood (baseline) compared to what the device said wasgood for me (10,000 steps). So, for instance, if I went for a long walk and didn't take the device with me, I saw that I would get demotivated from the walk and I didn't want that," says Dudhwala.      Self quantification converts understand this danger only too well. Dhankar uses a Withings smart body analyzer (like a weighing machine) that plots a weight curve on how things are progressing. The graph has helped him change his weekend pattern because he noticed that his sedentary weekends pushed up his weight on Mondays and Tuesdays. "But I treat all this data as background info. I am not always looking at it. And that is the self-quantification challenge. You have to see past the numbers," says Dhankar.      Dudhwala is tackling one of the most important aspects of selfquantification — about what it does to the 'self' and whether technology constructs our idea of ourselves and our wellness. "For examples, the Fitbit says that I 'should' take 10,000 steps a day. If you take 11K, do you think you have improved further? It only looks like numbers but it is a sort of self-knowledge through numbers. But I would argue that numbers are just a tool."      So, what could diligent, meticulous logging of every waking and sleeping second lead to? Converts say it could be any sort of life change that you need but cannot see. Gondal says life logs will also mean something to future generations. "Cave paintings were life logging for cave men," he says.

Going abroad? Pay for insurance from own a/c

Mumbai: Buying international plane tickets for family members online is a breeze, but buying overseas mediclaim cover for others now requires advance planning. Insurance companies are insisting that electronic payment for policies must come from the policyholder's own account. 

    Nikhil W, who was trying to buy a last-minute overseas insurance policy for his father, discovered that the online system was not accepting a payment from his account. His parents who were travelling on their own had not activated any electronic payment services. Earlier, he had paid for his parents when he was part of the group that was travelling. 
    Insurers are invoking the principle of 'insurable interest' for rejecting payment through third-party accounts. Insurance interest means that the person buying insurance needs to have a financial interest in the subject of insurance. 
    This restriction is a challenge for those who have not bridged the digital divide considering that online payments are becoming the norm for many categories of policies such as auto, health and overseas travel. Also, in cases of policies where the commission is low, the insurance agent is reluctant to make the effort to collect the cheque. 
    "Any person paying the premium needs to have insurable interest. The insurance policy is a contract between the insurer and the policyholder and third-party cheques are not accepted," said K K Mishra, MD, Tata AIG General Insurance. He added that in the case of people who do not have net banking or credit cards, the company sends across a representative to collect the cheque. 
    According to Sanjay Datta, head of underwriting and claims at ICICI Lombard, the company accepts cheques of family members in family floater policies, but unrelated parties cannot may payments in respect of individual policies. He, too, cites the principle of insurance interest for rejecting third-party payments. In the case of life insurance too, almost all companies — including LIC — require that the online premium be paid from the policyholder's account. 
    According to regulatory sources, the main reason behind the ban on third-party cheques is to avoid disputes. In the case of cheque payment, the insurance company is on risk from the time it receives the cheque. In case the cheque is not honoured, the company can commence recovery proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. But if the cheque is paid by athird party, recovery becomes difficult. 
    However, a retired regulatory official said, "How does it matter if the payment is made by a third-party. The insurance company does not have any problem accepting a demand draft which could have been paid by a third-party or if a third-party has deposited funds in the buyer's account". SEEKING 'INSURABLE INTEREST' 

• Third-party payments are being rejected over the 'insurable interest' principle — person buying insurance needs to have a financial interest 

• So buying an overseas mediclaim for a family member who hasn't activated any e-payment system, like your parents, is becoming tougher 

• Even life insurers like LIC require that online premium payments originate from a policyholder's own account 
• But view in regulatory circles is that this is not needed as insurers do not know who deposited funds in the account

Do Not Forget To Secure Your Child’s Fin Future Boost your term plan, start building a decent corpus to fund higher edu, marriage

 Building a strong financial future for the family should be one of the prime responsibilities of every working individual. However, the fact is "building a strong financial future is not a one night task. It's a long-term process where you have to build it brick by brick", says Ashish Ramesh Bhave, an independent financial advisor (IFA). Here you need to judge your individual financial needs that may include buying a car and a house, own wedding, vacations, having a child/children, their growing up years, education and marriage, and then having a corpus for your and your spouse's sunset years. It may look like a long process, which indeed it is, but if you are not confident enough you can always approach a good financial planner for help. 

    One of the important aspects of the entire exercise is to secure the financial future of your child. "While planning for a good financial future for your child, you have to consider two things: One is how to create the funds by way of smart investing for their present and future financial needs. And second, creating a very strong risk protection plan to take care of any unfortunate event which may happen in your life," Bhave said. 
    "The most crucial part of your planning, and surprisingly the part which is neglected by most of us, is planning for uncertainty," said Shubhangi G Pai, an IFA. 
    "Life is uncertain, and everyone has to plan for it. In case of an eventuality, we should make sure that the child should not fall short of funds. And that's precisely why we need a pure term life insurance plan," Pai said. 
    Financial planners and advisors say most insurance companies have good terminsurance plans to of fer, and given his or her profile, an individual should buy one so that the future of the family, and that of the child in particular, is secured in case of any eventuality. 
    Besides, financial planning for you child should include providing for primary and secondary education, and then building a corpus for higher education. "To build a financial backup for your children, you need to start investing for them soon after they are born," said Bhave. This brings the power of compounding on your, helping realize dreams. "So, it is important to start without thinking that how large or how small the investment could be," he said. 
    According to Pai, education is one thing that no parent would want to compromise on. The main aim is to make them independent and make sure they have a better future. "As things stand now, completion of graduation is close to being affordable, but it is the postgraduation expenses that will most likely burn a hole in your pocket," Pai said. 
    Pai feels that opening a PPF account in the minor child's name should be at the top of one's priority list. In PPF, you are allowed to invest a maximum of Rs 1 lakh. The term of the investment is 15 years and at the end of the tenure, one has an option to extend the tenure by another five years and that too indefinitely. 
    "At the current rate of interest (8.7% compounded annually), you can expect a corpus of approximately Rs 49 lakh at the end of 20 years. More importantly, the proceeds are tax free," Pai said. 
    When one thinks of children's wedding, one of the first things that would come to the mind is gold. 
    "Though most people opt for physical gold, I would recommend buying Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) instead. Gold ETFs mean buying gold on paper at the same price which you would pay for the physical form. Which means that you would not have to worry about it being stolen or misplaced? But what if you need physical gold at the time of the marriage? It's simple, sell the ETFs, and use that money to buy the jewellery," Pai said. 
NEXT WEEK 
    We would deal with how one can put a financial plan in place to build a corpus to take care of higher education and marriage of a child.

CUTTING COSTS PSU health insurers form third-party administrator

Mumbai: Healthcare service providers are in for some heavy collective bargaining from public sector insurance companies, which pay hospital bills worth close to Rs 4,000 crore every year. The General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association has set up a captive third-party administrator — Health Insurance TPA of India — which will centralize all negotiations with hospitals.      Speaking to TOI, G Srinivasan, chairman, New India Assurance, said that the company has been formed with shareholding from New India, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance, United India Insurance and the General Insurance Corporation. "The priority is to have a strong IT system in place. Once that is done, the company will gradually take over handling of claims from other TPAs," said Srinivasan. He added that the process would start only next year.      A captive TPA will enable  health insurers to meet with directions from the regulator and also the courts, which require them to take in-house decisions in respect of health insurance claims. In the private sector, some of the large companies such as ICICI Lombard and Bajaj Allianz have been managing their health insurance claims inhouse without the use of TPAs.      In the last two years, public sector insurers have made significant headway in bringing down cost of procedures in hospitals. However, despite this, there have been leakages. For instance, hospitals that have agreed for package rates for procedures are working around the tariff by using a loophole where they are allowed to charge more in case of complications arising out of the patient having multiple health issues.      The other issue is group health insurance where the client still calls the shots. Insurers say that wherever the corporate decides on the appointment of the TPA, the TPA does his best to keep employees happy. "Perhaps technology will hold the key in blocking leakages," said Segar Sampath Kumar, general manager and head of health insurance at New India Assurance.

OUT OF REACH High cost deters Mars launch insurance

Mumbai: ISRO has decided against insuring its Mars mission, given the high cost of a cover. Insurers say that the cost of cover for the launch in the international market would have been very high and may have amounted to almost half the cost of the project.      The Mars mission aims to send a 1,350kg satellite to the red planet to analyze its atmosphere and surface and transmit information back to earth. Sources said that the other reason for not going for acover was that this is a scientific expedition, unlike the launch of a communication satellite which has commercial implications.      Speaking to TOI, G Srinivasan, chairman, New India Assurance, which has been the lead insurer for most of ISRO's launches, confirmed that the Mars mission was not insured with them.      "ISRO has taken a decision not to insure its own launches," he said.      The earlier mission to Moon, the Rs 386-crore Chandrayaan-1, was also not insured. The Chandrayaan-1 mission was considered a success although the satellite remained operational for only one year as against the intended two years. In satellite insurance, a mission is either a total loss or a success as what is covered is the launch process and not the operations of the satellite.      The market for satellite insurance is a highly specialized one and only a handful of international underwriters have the capability to provide cover.      Even though the policy is issued by an Indian insurer such as New India, the risk is placed with international underwriters through the process of reinsurance. Indianinsurance companies do not have the capability to cover satellite launches on their own.      In the past, ISRO had taken cover for satellites when the launches were undertaken from foreign locations such as Kourou in French Guyana by Arianespace. In these earlier launches, the premium had amounted to close to a third of the sum insured.      Insurers say that cover for launches from India would be more expensive than those by Arianespace because ISRO is a relatively newer player.

Insurance :1 crore relief for kin of NRI killed in mishap

Mumbai: Ten years after a UK-based family of Indian origin met with an accident that left two of its members dead, the Bombay HC has awarded the surviving family members over Rs 1 crore in compensation. 

    The family was on holiday when a truck rammed into the Qualis in which they were travelling in Rajasthan on July 26, 2003. While British national Dilip Samani and his daughter Janaki (8) died, Samani's wife Aruna, his other daughter Nikita and niece Poonam Gokani suffered injuries. 
    The HC also upheld compensation of Rs 5.93 lakh to Poonam for injuries suffered as well as "loss of prospects of marriage" due to the facial disfigurement suffered by her. 
    Adivision bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Gautam Patel dismissed the insurance firm's claims that the truck and Qualis were equally to blame for the accident and should therefore share the compensation amount. 
    The HC agreed with the motor accidents claims tribunal (MACT) that the truck, being the bigger vehicle, had the obligation to try and avoid the accident. It said the FIR had blamed the truck driver for rash and negligent driving, a witness in the vehicle had testified that the Qualis' driver had tried to avoid the mishap, and the truck driver was not called as a witness by the insurance firm. 
    After the accident, a claim for compensation was filed before MACT Daman. The insurance company challenged the damages awarded. 
    The HC took into consideration the income of Dilip, who had a garment business in Leicester. On the basis of his tax details, the HC calculated his average annual income as 15,000 pounds just before his death and asked the firm to pay compensation of Rs 98.50 lakh along with 7% interest. 
    The court, however, quashed the tribunal's order for compensation on account of Janaki's death and injuries to Aruna as it was based on 4.50 pounds as minimum wages in UK in 2003. The court said that there were no documents to support this and awarded Rs 6.14 lakh to Aruna and Rs 3.60 lakh as compensation for Janaki's death. 
E-way mishap kills 3 T hree women were killed and 21 others injured when theovercrowded pickup van they were travelling in was hit by a car on the Pune-Mumbai expressway in Lonavla on Monday night. The condition of three persons was stated to be serious. They were admitted to Lokmanya Hospital in Nigdi. TNN