Home Insurance Bharat Griha Raksha Policy
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What is Bharat Griha Raksha Policy?
The shelter is one of the three fundamental necessities of a person’s life. A home has to be protected the way it protects us. For this reason, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has introduced a standard home insurance plan that offers coverage against the perils and risks that your home is exposed to.
In its latest released press on 4th January 2021, the IRDAI has issued guidelines for protecting the house. It has been announced that the Special Fire and Special Perils (SFSP) Policy that was provided earlier under All India Fire and Tariff (AIFT), 2001, will be replaced by the following standard insurance products and the general insurers that have been offering the policies for fire and allied perils insurance will be offering the newly launched insurance products from 1st April 2021. Those products are as follows.
Bharat Griha Raksha Policy for Home Building and Contents of Home.
Bhaarat Sookshma Udyan Sukaksha Policy for enterprises. Under this policy the total value of the insured risks is limited to Rs. 5 crores.
Bharat Laghu Udyam Suraksha Policy for enterprises. Under this policy, the total value of the insured risks will be between Rs. 5 crores to Rs. 50 crores.
The Bharat Griha Raksha Policy offers coverage to your home building and home content that refers to the things and articles of the house. This policy compensates for the loss or damage you may suffer unfortunate unforeseen incidents that happen to result in physical loss, damage, or destruction of the building of your home and the articles or contents within it.
Key Features of Bharat Griha Raksha Policy
The key highlights of the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy are as follows.
Covered Risks – Bharat Griha Raksha Policy provides coverage for a wide range of perils such as natural disasters (storm, hurricane, tsunami, tempest, flood, landslide. Tornado, earthquake, typhoon, and many more), fire (forest, bush, jungle fire), any kind of impact damage, strike, riot, acts of terrorism, water tank bursting or overflowing, apparatus and pipes leakage and many more.
Availability – This policy becomes active and starts to give coverage within 7 days from the occurrence of any covered loss or damage.
Home Content Coverage – Bharat Griha Raksha Policy not only protects the home structure but also provides protection to the contents or articles within it automatically without even declaring their details for 20% of the sum insured of the insured building which is subject to a maximum amount of 10 lakhs.
Optional Coverage – There are two optional coverage available with this policy
Flexibility – This insurance policy is flexible enough and the coverage can be adjusted according to the requirements of the insured.
Additional Benefits – The insured person under this policy can file new add-ons according to their convenience that is not included in the basic cover, optional cover, and in-built cover if those extensions are available with the insurance products.
Key Features Documents – This insurance policy also has the advantage of Key Features Documents where one can get the basic information related to the policy and its products and also it gives answers to the Frequently Asked Questions.
Smooth and Easy – Just like all other insurance policies introduced by IRDAI, the features of the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy are customer-friendly and easy to avail of. The Policy Wordings are written in the lucid and placid language.
Eligibility Criteria of Bharat Griha Raksha Policy
If you are the owner, authorized occupier, tenant, or landlord of the building and liable for insurance, you are eligible to avail Bharat Griha Raksha Policy. This insurance policy will be available for you only if you use the home building for residential purposes. But if the building is used and occupied for commercial purposes by employing other people, you cannot purchase this policy. For commercial activities, there are other insurance policies available that you may opt for.
This policy will give you coverage for any article, thing, or content of that residential building if you are the owner, purchaser, or responsible for it.
What are the inclusions of the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy?
The Bharat Griha Raksha Policy provides you three types of cover and they are as follows.
1. Home Building Cover
This coverage protects the building structure of Your home.
2. Home Contents Cover
The policy gives you coverage for the articles or things in Your home. Where Home Building is also covered, General Contents are automatically covered for 20% of the Sum Insured of the Home Building subject to a maximum of ₹ 10 Lakh (Rupees Ten Lakh) unless you opt for a higher Sum Insured for Home Contents and declare the details.
At least one of the above 2 covers is compulsory.
3. Optional Cover
There are some optional covers available with Bharat Griha Raksha Policy on payment of additional premium and they are as follows.
- Cover for Valuable Contents on Agreed Value Basis: This optional cover gives you coverage for the valuable contents of Your Home such as jewellery, silverware, paintings, works of art, and a few more.
- Personal Accident Cover: If the insured peril cause damage to Your Home Building and/or Contents also results in the death of either You or Your spouse, a compensation of Rs.5 Lakh (Rupees Five Lakh) per person would be payable.
To make it more understandable and simpler for you, here is one table that gives you the details of the coverage that the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy offers to protect you in different ways.
Table 1 (General Cover)
Name of Cover | Your Loss | Policy will pay | Nature of Cover |
Home Building Cover | Building is damaged | Cost of repairs, architects’, surveyor’s, consulting engineer’s fees. Costs of cleaning debris, loss of rent, and rent for alternative accommodation. | Standard |
The building is completely destroyed (Total Loss) | Cost of construction | Standard | |
Home Contents Cover | Any general content is damaged | Cost of repairs | Standard. You can opt-out of the cover or increase the Sum Insured by declaring details. |
Article of thing is lost or destroyed (Total Loss) | Cost of replacing that item with the same or similar item. | ||
Personal Accident Cover | The unfortunate death of your spouse or yourself due to an insured peril that caused damage to the Home Building and/or Contents within it. | Rs. 5,00,000/- per person | Optional |
Cover for Valuable Contents on Agreed Value Basis (under Home Contents Cover) | Valuable content is physically damaged | Cost of repair | optional |
Valuable content is a total loss | Agreed value |
Unexpected Events Coverage
Insurance cover for physical loss or damage, or destruction caused to Insured Property by the following unforeseen events occurring during the Policy Period.
Fire – If your insured residence or the articles within it get damaged by fire even by bush, jungle fire, the company will cover that loss.
Explosion or Implosion – Any damage or loss that occurred due to explosion or implosion is covered under this policy.
Natural Catastrophes – The Bharat Griha Raksha Policy protects your house building and the things within it from natural disasters like earthquakes, lightning, volcanic eruption, or other convulsions of nature.
Unfortunate Calamities – This insurance policy offers coverage for different unfortunate calamities such as typhoons, tornadoes, tsunami, floods, cyclones, storms, hurricanes, tempests, and some more.
Unexpected Perils – Your home building and its articles are protected under this policy against subsidence of the land on which Your Home Building stands, Landslide, Rockslide.
Public Commotions – If your house or its articles get damaged or destroyed by acts of terrorism, riots, strikes, or any other public unrest, the company will bear that loss.
Leakage – If you suffer a loss due to leakage from automatic sprinkler installations, bursting or overflowing of water tanks, apparatus, and pipes, the company will compensate for that.
What are the exclusions of the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy?
There are several exclusions under Bharat Griha Raksha Policy and they are as follows.
Willful damage – If you suffer any loss deliberately or intentionally, the policy does not bear that loss.
War – If due to war, war-like operations, or invasions, you suffer loss, the company does not take responsibility for that.
Nuclear activities – Any damage caused due to radioactive rays or nuclear activities is not covered under this policy.
Missing property – In case of property is missing or has been mislaid will not be covered by the policy.
Action of Government – Temporary or permanent dispossession, confiscation, commandeering, requisition, or destruction by the order of the government or any lawful authority will not be covered.
Addition, extension, or alteration to your building more than 10% of its carpet area, is not covered by the policy.
The company does not bear the costs, fees, or expenses for preparing any claim.
Loss or damage to any insured property removed from your home to any other place is not included under the policy coverage.
How is the premium amount calculated for Bharat Griha Raksha Policy?
The Premium for the Home Building Cover and the Home Contents Cover heavily depends upon the amount of Sum Insured and various other factors that determine and define the risk profile of Your Home Building and Home Contents.
The Sum Insured for the Home Building Cover will be equal to the Cost of Construction of the Home Building including fittings and fixtures at the Policy Commencement Date. The rate of cost of construction is the prevailing rate of cost of construction of the Home Building at the Policy Commencement date as declared by the owner and accepted by the insurer.
The claim settlement process of Bharat Griha Raksha Policy
- If your house building or the contents of it suffer any loss or damage, you need to intimate the insurer immediately, at least within 24 hours.
- A surveyor will be appointed on the behalf of the insurance company to assess the damage or loss and to make a report on that. It would be advisable to keep a copy of that report as it may help you in future reference.
- All the proofs, witnesses, and required documents are needed to be submitted along with the duly filled claim form.
- Preserve and collect evidence, take and preserve photographs and produce wherever required.
- Your claim approval highly depends upon the report of the surveyor. So do not produce any wrong or misleading information. And, cooperate with the surveyor and the insurer.
- Whenever required report to police, fire authorities, and appropriate concerned legal authorities and provide a copy of that to the surveyor and insurer.
- It is advisable to keep a copy of the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy and to produce it before the insurer and the surveyor.
- You must submit the claim form at the earliest opportunity but within 30 days from the date, you first notice the loss or damage.
- If the company finds the case fit and genuine, it would approve the claim, else the claim would be rejected.
How much reimbursement will I receive in the event of a covered loss?
If Your home building or articles or things within it are damaged, the policy will reimburse the amount You have spent on repairs. If Your home or articles or contents of it are lost or completely destroyed, the policy will pay the Sum Insured for that item. In the Policy Schedule, your amount of Sum Insured will be mentioned.
It has to be remembered that ‘underinsurance’ does not apply to the Bharat Griha Raksha policy. This is a special feature of this policy. Thus, if Your Sum Insured calculated on the basis of the information that you have provided to the insurer is less than the actual value at risk, the difference will not affect the amount payable.
This is the maximum amount policy will pay, in case the actual cost of repair, rebuilding, or replacement is higher. This policy will end at that moment when the insurer will pay the whole Sum Insured of any cover or item insured.
What are the different companies that provide Bharat Griha Raksha Policy?
There is a wide range of insurance companies in India that offer the Bharat Griha Raksha Policy. Here are the mentions of a few.
HDFC ERGO
SBI General
Tata AIG
Royal Sundaram General Insurance
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
ICICI Lombard
Bharti AXA General Insurance Company Limited
The Oriental Insurance Company Limited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most frequent questions and answers about Bharat Griha Suraksha policy.
You must pay the premium in advance. Remember that only after you pay the premium, the insurance cover begins.
Yes, you can. But the additional covers vary from insurer to insurer.
Yes, you can go for making changes to the covers of your policy that are permitted by your insurer. You must make a proposal or request for any change.
Yes, you can cancel this policy at any time during the policy period. The insurer will return part of the premium.
The policy will expire at the end of the Policy Period. In case you want to renew the Policy, You have to apply for renewal before the end of the Policy Period and pay the required premium amount. It has to be remembered that the renewal of the Bharat Griha Suraksha Policy is not automatic.