New Delhi, 17th July 2023: Floods have wreaked havoc across the country, particularly in areas such as Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. According to SBI’s Ecowrap research report, the economic loss from the floods is expected to be in the range of Rs 10,000-15,000 crore.
According to the research, the government is deeply concerned about the high toll of severe floods, as well as natural calamities such as the recent Biparjoy cyclone. It went on to say that the country’s geography and geographical traits leave it exposed to a variety of natural calamities.
The report said, “While the current status of economic loss due to these floods is yet to be estimated, we believe this in the range of Rs 10,000-15,000 crore.”
Since 1990, India has seen the third-highest number of natural disasters, trailing only the United States and China. Since 1900, India has had 764 natural catastrophes, including landslides, storms, earthquakes, floods, and droughts. From 1900 to 2000, India experienced 402 occurrences; from 2001 to 2022, India experienced 361 events.
According to the research, the frequency of such instances has established new records for economic hardship. Floods are the most common natural calamity in India. According to the survey, floods caused about 41% of natural disasters, followed by storms.
According to the SBI research, there is a critical protection gap in India – insured losses. In 2022, insurance will cover $125 billion of the total $275 billion in economic losses caused by natural disasters worldwide.
It stated, “The overall protection gap has increased to $151 billion in 2022, which is much higher than the 10-year average of $130 billion but still at around 54 per cent of the total losses uninsured. Though still large, this is less than the 61 per cent average protection gap of the previous 10 years.”
The SBI study paper also mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasising the importance of improving public health and business readiness. It went on to say that the insurance industry and governments should talk about potential contingent liabilities.
India requires ‘out-of-the-box solutions’ for natural disasters, as well as more awareness among businesses about the protection gap. “In the MSME sector, only 5% of the units in the country are insured.” “This industry requires a much higher level of protection,” it added.
It proposed a government-led partnership project to cover MSME employees and provide social security in the form of insurance benefits and income protection for their families.
