HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, a leading general insurance company of India, announces the launch of an innovative and technology backed farm yield insurance policy for farmers. This is a first-of-its-kind insurance solution, where a satellite based index will be used to provide localised farm level coverage. It will provide comprehensive cover across the crop life cycle from sowing to harvesting, basis satellite based data.

The product is targeted to the farmers under corporate/farm input company (FIC) contracts.  A threshold Index value is calculated for every yield by using the historical satellite imaging data of the specific crop and a remote sensing mechanism available in the public domain. The threshold/benchmark index will be then compared with the actual index value arrived at by the reference satellite for the insured crop, to determine if the yield is at loss. Since this is entirely based on technology, no manual survey is required during the claim assessment of this crop.  

Commenting on the launch,. Hiten Kothari, Appointed Actuary, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, said, “One of the most direct ways disasters affect agriculture is through lower than expected or significant damage to the yield. This causes direct economic loss to farmers which can cascade along the entire value chain, even affecting the growth of the sector or the entire national economy. As a digital first organisation, the farm yield insurance cover will provide composite insurance to the crops across all stages of the cropping cycle, without the requirement of tedious manual surveys.”