Chennai Flood Claims at Rs 5,000 Crore for Insurance Sector

Kolkata: The massive flood in Chennai and adjoining areas in Tamil Nadu turned out to be costly for the insurance companies, saddled with claims touching close to Rs 5,000 crore.

"For the entire insurance industry, the losses are about Rs 5,000 crore. For National Insurance at gross it will be Rs 300 crore," company's chairman and managing director K Sanath Kumar said here today.

"At the company level, the net hit to us will be anywhere between Rs 80 and Rs 90 crore. The industry thought loss would not be more than Rs 500 crore after the November flood, but the second round of flood in December was severe causing the major damage," NIC director & General manager M Vasantha Krishna said.

Besides loss of lives, according to estimates, some 80,000 vehicles, four and two-wheelers combined, are estimated to have been damaged in the deluge.

According to reports, 2015 was one of the worst in aviation losses for insurance companies in India. Eight private jets owned by corporate houses were damaged in the Chennai floods last December that could cost up to Rs 500 crore for the general insurance players.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)