Small businesses seek staff cover in a bid to restart

Rachel Chitra | TNN | Updated: Apr 30, 2020, 12:10 IST

(Representative image)

BENGALURU: Businesses are queuing up to buy group health covers after a government order requiring companies to mandatorily provide insurance for workers if they open up during the Covid-19 lockdown. The new category of buyers include supermarkets, retail chains, pharmacy stores and food processing factories.
“This week, we launched a new group cover exclusively for SMEs, where insurance coverage is between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh,” said New India chairman and managing director Atul Sahai, adding, there was a large demand for the policy.
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Contractors of city corporations and state governments are in discussions to buy cover for sanitation workers and garbage disposal crews. But there has not been any demand from contractors in the construction, textiles, chemicals, fertilizers and mining industry. Other uninsured workers include the 1.5 crore truck drivers, contract labourers at the wholesale vegetable & grain markets, loaders and vendors in APMCs.
“Corporates have always bought group health cover. But now they are cutting costs by reducing cover for dependents. Some companies are asking employees to pay for parents’ coverage,” said Star Health Insurance chief executive Dr S Prakash.
The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has asked the government to cover truckers under a government policy. This could be similar to the Rs 50-lakh Covid-19 death compensation cover purchased by the government for health workers, said AIMTC chairman Bal Malkit Singh. He said truck owners were facing cash problems as they have not been paid.
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The Karnataka Employers Association (KEA) has sought clarity from the state labour department as to whether coverage under the government’s Employee State Insurance (ESI) scheme is adequate or additional health insurance needs to be bought. State labour departments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have said they are seeking clarity from the Centre in this regard. Garments and textile workers do not have health insurance but are covered under the ESI.
“The problem is not for those earning below Rs 15,000 as they all have ESI. It is for mid-level staff, earning 15,000-25,000,” said Tiruppur Exporters Association president Arumugam Sakthivel. The association has over 3,500 factories as its members. Sakthivel said that currently 10-15 factories are producing cloth masks for the domestic market after buying insurance for workers and supervisors. A hundred more factories may start production if exports are opened up.
Workers in tea, coffee, rubber & pepper plantations and factories in the southern states are covered under ESI according to United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI). This association has sought clarification on the need to provide cover for migrant workers as plantations are required to have in-house medical facilities under the Plantation Labours Act, 1951. “We often do not know the names of workers who are brought by contractors in groups of 10-15 for two-three months from Bihar and Jharkhand,” said UPASI member Suresh S.