PET INSURANCE
Introduction
Pet insurance is slowly but surely catching up in India. Pet Insurance schemes essentially pay for
the veterinary costs in case one's pet falls sick or suffers an accident or injury. Some pet plan
insurance products also make payments for loss or death of the insured pet.
Pet medical insurance is essentially a risk mitigation strategy for guarding against significant
medical expenditure for treatment of sick or injured pets. With the recent developments in the
field of veterinary medicine the life expectancy of pets has increased, so did the cost of medical
treatment. This has widened the market for pet insurance. Nowadays customized pet plan
insurance programs are available for animals like cats and dogs.
It may be noted that Claes Virgin wrote the world's first policy on pet insurance in 1890. Pet
insurance policies worldwide are also available for livestock and animals like horses
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Pet care insurance in India is still at a nascent stage. Most of the clients come from the super rich
sections of society. However, the insurers foresee a huge untapped potential in this sector, in the
coming years. Pet insurers put the number of pets at over 4 million, counted across 27 main
Indian metros. The value of the Indian pet industry is estimated at above Rs 400 crore. Industry
insiders in India expect pet insurance business to boom with the increased public awareness
about the concerned schemes.
Oriental Insurance, a premier Indian insurance company, provides insurance for dogs, horses and
elephants. Currently the other key players in the Indian pet insurance market are United India
Insurance Co, National Insurance Co, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and New India Assurance
Co.
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Usually the premium for pet insurance varies between three to five percent of the amount insured
in India. Pet medical insurance plans in India normally provide coverage for death from disease,
disability and sickness. Insurance coverage is also extended for public liability and accidental
death of pets.
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OBJECTIVES
The Dog Insurance Scheme by New India Assurance and Oriental Insurance are very similar and
cover only dogs (of indigenous origin, cross-bred and exotic breeds) within the age group of 8
weeks to 8 years.
in order to get the cover, a detailed pedigree record, kennel club record along with a veterinary
certificate ought to be submitted (for New India Assurance) and dog needs to marked using a
suitable identification method such as tattooing, nose print etc
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The basic premium rate for this claim is 5% of the sum insured. Dogs are insured only against
death due to accident and/or diseases contracted.
The insurance company bears 80% of the claim amount and the insured bears 20% of the claim
amount which would be ascertained on the basis of the market value as certified by a veterinary
doctor or the insured value, whichever is less (as specified by New India Assurance).
Parents can get additional cover for transit risk, breeding risk, theft, third party liability etc.
However, the cover does not include death due to diseases such as distemper, rabies, and
leptospirosis unless the pet was vaccinated and certified by a vet. Future Generali’s Dog
Suraksha Policy is also very similar to PSUs' policies above.None of them provide any coverage
for treatment of diseases or accidents etc.
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PET INSURANCE IN INDIA
Posted on 12th Feb, 2015: As pet parents we invest a lot of time, energy and resources to keep our
pets happy and healthy. Unfortunately, when our pets fall ill or meet with some kind of an
accident, it is not only emotionally draining but given the high cost of treatment it can be a huge
financial burden as well. Regular visit to the vet can easily set you back by Rs. 400 - Rs. 1000
and if your pet is unwell then the treatment can end up costing anywhere upwards of Rs. 2000.
This becomes more pronounced for those parents who like exotic foreign breeds, not able to
adjust to the vagaries of Indian climate and most of them being products of badly run breeding
operations they are most vulnerable to disorders ranging from congenital defects to weather and
food driven diseases. In addition, often such breeds are also most exposed to risks such as
kidnapping etc. since they are sold for a lucrative price to puppy mill owners who in turn sell the
pups of these breeds at anywhere above Rs. 40K! While there is little one could do to alleviate
the emotional stress when one loses a pet or when a pet falls ill, but the financial stress can
definitely be eased provided we have right insurance products available in the market providing
health coverage. Therefore, we set out to investigate what options are available for pet parents in
India and discovered that unlike in west (such as in the US) where there are numerous pet
insurance products providing health insurance (essentially they reimburse pet parent a percentage
of treatment cost post treatment), in India, we only have handful of products (yes you read it
right we do have pet insurance in India!) which unfortunately provide coverage against death and
theft as well as against third party liabilities only (in case your dog bites someone or destroys
someone’s property) - again most of them are focused on dogs and very few provide coverage for
other pets such as cats. Therefore, most of these products tend to treat pets as show or breeding
animals or merely as a property and aim to compensate owners in case of any mishap leading to
their death. Based on high level research we did not find a single product providing health
coverage and other related benefits (such as accident or surgery coverage like neutering or even
vaccination expenses etc.)
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have clubbed their pet insurance offering with rural insurance for farm animals such as cattle etc
and hence, the product info is hidden somewhere in the rural insurance section. Also, there has
been a vicious circle operating where low awareness for pet insurance leads to very few
enquiries or sales and hence, leads to little effort by insurers to market these products (and you
can’t really blame them given the low insurance penetration among humans in India – there is
anyways a lot of ground to be covered before they start focusing on pets.). In fact in case of some
of the insurers like Bajaj Allianz neither the info is available on the website nor are their sales rep
on phone equipped to provide this information – you are required to visit a sales office in case
you are keen on buying a pet insurance. While in case of other players who even offer animal
insurance such as HDFC Ergo, they have decided to focus only on livestock animals given that at
least there is some demand in that segment. According to a vet, another reason why companies
may not be too interested in pet insurance is due to high mortality rate in this segment since very
few pets are regularly vaccinated or given proper veterinary care
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In India, you can get your pet insured for any amount ranging from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 50,000,
depending on the breed and the insurance company. Usually the premium for pet insurance
varies between three to five percent of the amount insured, but is subject to change depending on
factors such as health condition and lineage. As mentioned earlier, unfortunately, these policies,
only cover death either due to accident or diseases though some claim to provide permanent total
disability benefits too (but may be more relevant in case of farm animals). In addition, you can
also get cover for theft, third party liability, death due to accidental poisoning or in transit by air,
road etc., as well as risks associated with animal shows in India, besides burglary and breeding
risks
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Rajni, an administrative officer at United India Insurance explains the process of getting pet
insurance, “Once you get a letter from your veterinary doctor saying that your dog is fit and
healthy, we will give you a proposal form to fill. After you fill the form, a policy is issued.” It’s
really that simple. But according to her, this policy does not cover any of the pre-existing
illnesses but accidents or illnesses contracted after the policy are covered. A quick review of the
available information on pet insurance reveal how insurers in India are still treating pets as a
property only and therefore, seek to provide compensation to owners in case of their death
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Similarly, Tata AIG also offers pet insurance as part of their rural insurance product – Pashu
Suraksha Bema which provides cover for both pet dogs and cats (indigenous, exotic or crossbred) aged
between 2 months to 10 years. The premium charged is expected to be between 4% to
10% of the sum insured. The insurance provides coverage against death due to diseases,
accidents, surgery, riots and short distance transit (which can extended for longer distances by
paying an additional premium). While the policy provides coverage for treatment of diseases for
cattle it has not been extended to pets. The company also offers short term insurance ranging
from a week to few months besides a lifetime cover but again only covering for death.
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Clearly, our insurance industry is years behind the curve when it comes to understanding the
evolution of pet parenting in India and need to realize that pets are no longer treated as a property
but more as a member of one’s family. There is a need to tailor products that suits the
requirements of a modern pet parent. We hope that at least some of these insurance companies
will wake up to the enormous opportunity pet care space has to offer and soon provide products
that are more in sync with changing times and lifestyles.
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