Accident insurance for small traders likely to be announced in budget

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retaining power post a thumping majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, it is likely that their manifesto promise of an accident insurance scheme of Rs 10 lakh cover will be announced in the full Budget in July, sources told Moneycontrol.

This product is likely to be priced at a nominal rate (below Rs 150) and will benefit the small trader community, whom the BJP had promised the insurance would cover once they register under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

Sources told Moneycontrol that more than 30 million traders could benefit from this scheme and it is likely to be an auto-debit insurance policy wherein the premium would be deducted from the traders’ bank account on an annual basis.

While the traders will pay a low premium, the rest would be subsidised by the government. The contours of the scheme are expected to be similar to the Jan Suraksha Yojana, which has two insurance schemes.

The personal accident scheme (Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana - PMSBY) and term insurance scheme (Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana - PMJJBY) was launched in May 2015. Both policies have a sum assured of Rs 2 lakh each and need to be renewed each year, with premiums low at Rs 12 and Rs 330, respectively.

In the first five months of the schemes' launch, around 120 million policyholders were enrolled. As on April 23, 2018 (data only available till that date), there were 135 million subscribers under PMSBY and 53.3 million subscribers under PMJJBY.