Only Small Number Of Passengers Opted For Insurance Cover

Odisha
As per the initial indications, only a small number of passengers of the two passenger trains have opted for the travel accident insurance cover while booking through the IRCTC portal.
Replying to a list of questions sent to SBI General Insurance’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kishore Kumar Poludasu, a company spokesperson told : As per data available, SBI General has covered 351 passengers.
According to the SBI General Insurance official, a few claims for injury have been lodged with the company by the passengers of the two trains. On the other hand, Roopam Asthana, Wholetime Director and CEO of Liberty General Insurance did not respond to the questions sent to him. In that tragic accident, 288 passengers were killed and more than 1,000 others injured.
The IRCTC has selected SBI General Insurance and Liberty General Insurance to offer the travel accident insurance cover. Those who reserveed tickets through IRCTC booking portal can opt for accident insurance for Rs 10 lakhs by paying a paltry premium of Re 0.35 paise. The policy covers death/disabilities/medical expenses due to a train accident during the travel. Both the companies declined to answer as to how the number of policies are divided between the two insurers when the tickets are booked.
According to IRCTC’s regulatory filing of investor call transcript, during the last quarter of FY23, a total number of 10.44 crore tickets have been booked and 14.54 crores passengers have been booked on these tickets.