Considering the current scenario of infrastructure developments, there is
a substantial growth potential in equipment insurance.
Amit Agarwal, Director, Ideal Insurance Brokers, elaborates more on the trend.

Could you give us an overview on the concept of construction equipment insurance? 
Contractor's plant and machinery (CPM) policy can be issued by covering equipment on anywhere in India basis with the following provisions:
Full description with identification number of each and every equipment with valuation should be declaredTransit risks from site to site will be excluded
Loading of 10 per cent on the basic CPM rate shall be charged to cover.

What are the advantages of insuring construction equipment? What are the risks covered and not covered?
There are many advantages of insuring construction equipment. Construction equipment are expensive and a huge amount of capital is invested to purchase them. The equipment are used in risky locations and under intermittent exposure of heat and other natural calamities. These are operated by unskilled labours, therefore the possibility of any accident or mishandling is obvious. At the time of any such incident, the equipment insurance comes to the rescue and the stakeholders need not worry about repair or replacement and they can concentrate on their daily activities. The equipment whose value is in lakhs, can be covered in few thousands of rupees.

What are the risks covered and not covered?
The construction equipment are mainly covered in CPM, marine and machinery breakdown (MBD) insurance policies. CPM is an all risk policy, which covers all perils subject to a few exclusions mentioned below:

• Policy excess
• Loss or damage due to electrical and mechanical breakdown (this risk is covered in MBD policy)
• Loss or damage to replaceable parts, attachments, consumables etc
• Loss or damage while in transit from one location to another (this risk is covered in marine policy)
• Loss or damage occurred due to willful act or negligence.
• Loss or damage due to any pre-existing faults, etc.

Note: MBD policy can't be issued for a single equipment.

Which equipment categories do you provide insurance?
We provide insurance to all types of equipment, including road rollers, bulldozers, excavators, pavers, soil compactors, backhoe loaders, mixing/batching plants, dumpers/tippers, drilling machines etc.  

What are the products and services you offer in equipment insurance?
We provide risk management and insurance management services to corporate and individuals. Our strong domain expertise in Corporate Risk Management and our customised products can add immense value to your organisation, both in terms of - cost and quality. We conduct a unique risk mitigation (insurance) programme. We also commence our engagement with the 'Paper Audits' and present our recommendations in respect of:

• Suggest whether the terms, conditions, warranties and exceptions mentioned in the insurance contract are correct, adequate and address
• your requirements.
• Suggest if the protection offered is adequate in respect of quantum of claim against the listed terms as indicated in point no.1 above or there are possible gaps, which need to be covered.
• Suggest if any enhanced terms available today in the market suitable to your risk profile.
• Suggest improvement, if any, on the financial outgo towards the risk coverage. This could be in two ways such as the same cover at a better price or additional cover at the same price.
• Last but not the least, we provide excellent and hassle-free claim settlement support, timely policy issuance, endorsements etc.

What is the current market trend in equipment insurance?
Considering the current scenario of infrastructure sector, there is a substantial growth potential in equipment insurance. Due to increase in number of insurers in current Indian market, price is also going down day-by-day due to competition, which is good for insured/machinery insurance sector.

How do you look at the growth opportunities for equipment insurance? 
There is a huge growth in equipment insurance as the construction sector is at its highest growth level. The government has done a huge budget allocation for infrastructure sector as it is important factor in the growth of the economy. Every year, a lot of funds are allocated for construction, maintenance and expansion of road projects, national highways and bridges. Due to the rise in urban population, the demand for apartments is also rising. In transportation sector, we can see
the rise in metro rail projects. There is also a lot of focus on water conservation, due to which there is a growth in the construction of dams. Therefore, the opportunities are aplenty. Important growth drivers are the increase in population, demand and income level. With all these growth trend in construction, equipment insurance sector will continue to grow.