India General Insurance covers almost everything related to property, vehicle, cash, household goods, health and also one's liability towards others. The basic difference of general insurance with the life insurance policy is that it offers protection against contingencies.
Nearly 100 general insurance companies have been nationalized under the General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972, and merged into four companies, namely, National Insurance , New India Assurance , Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance.
Major insurance policies that are covered under India General Insurance are:
- Home Insurance – Home insurance policies under the India General Insurance provides protection against earthquake, natural calamities like floods, landslides and torrential rains, other hazards like gas cylinder explosion, fire due to electric short circuit and burglary. The home insurance policies under the India General Insurance covers:
- Building structure
- Contents inside the home
However it should be remembered, that a home insurance does not cover the market value of the house but all the contents are covered on the market value of the items.
- Health Insurance - Health insurance under the India General Insurance is commonly called Mediclaim policies. Health insurance policy covers expenses incurred during hospitalization and also the expenses during the pre as well as post hospitalization stages like pathological tests and buying medicines. Mediclaim policies is also tax beneficial, as stated under Section 80D, with the maximum amount of deduction being fixed at Rs 10,000 and in case of senior citizens Rs 15,000.
- Motor Insurance - Motor insurance policies under India General Insurance is obligatory as all vehicles are needed to be insured. It covers:
- loss or damage caused to the vehicle or its accessories due to natural and man made calamities
- compulsory personal accident coverage for individual owners of the vehicle while driving
- Travel Insurance - Travel insurance policies under India General Insurance offers lots of benefits such as medical expenses, loss or delay of baggage or passport, personal accident, financial emergency assistance and hijack distress allowance and as well covers expenses incurred due to delayed flight, cancellation of trip. It also takes care of valued assets left at home. Thus, this ensures all travel worries.
Some of the leading insurance companies covering general insurances are the ICICI Lombard Insurance Direct, Bajaj Allianz, Tata-AIG, and others.
