With terror attacks becoming frequent, insurance companies have started offering cover for loss of property and assets in terror attacks. The cover is being offered as an extension of the fire risk policy, and one can buy it by paying an additional premium. The nationalised insurance companies were the first to come out with these policies around mid-2007.

M K Jindal, general manager of Oriental Insurance Company at Delhi, said, “The terror cover has not gained much publicity till now. Only 15 to 20 per cent of the business establishments who buy the fire risk policy go in for the terrorism cover too.” However, Asha Nair, deputy general manager of The New India Assurance at Mumbai, said “the terror cover policy is getting good response” in Mumbai. She said some private companies have also started offering such covers.

In Uttar Pradesh, the responses have started coming in only recently, said N N Tripathi, a senior official at Oriental Insurance, Varanasi. “The policy covers damage to property in bomb blasts or any other kind of terrorist activity. For the compensation of loss of life in a terror activity, the owner has to take a liability cover. A few businessmen have also opted for the liability policy,” said Tripathi.

The owners of the establishments who opt for terror cover for their assets and properties have to pay 10 per cent extra premium on their fire policy. While extending such cover, the insurance companies lay down a list of do’s and don’ts for the owners to ensure the security of their establishments. These include installation of close circuit cameras and metal detectors, arrangements for frisking of visitors, fitting electrical appliances which conform to certain safety specifications, installation of fire-fighting systems, ban on entry of anyone inside the establishment on holidays and arrangements for internal surveillance.

Vice-president of Ramada Hotel, Harishwar Dayal, said insurance cover against terrorism had become necessary with the increasing frequency of such incidents. “When the insurance companies are offering this cover, why shouldn’t one take it, given the fact that terrorism is a reality?”

Besides Oriental and New India, National Insurance Company and United India Insurance have brought out such policies, sources said.

Sudip Singh, deputy general manager of The New India Assurance, Kanpur region, said, “Some industrialists have come forward to take the terrorism cover.”