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
offering the newly launched insurance products from 1st April 2021. Those products are as follows.
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.
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
This coverage protects the building structure of Your home..
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.
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. | Standard |
| The building is completely destroyed (Total Loss) | Cost of construction | Standard | |
| Home Contents Cover | Any general content is damaged | Cost of repairs | Standard |
| Article of thing is lost or destroyed (Total Loss) | Cost of replacing that item with the same or similar item. | You can opt-out of the cover or increase the Sum Insured by declaring details | |
| 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.
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
For availing a smooth and easy claim settlement process you can follow the below-mentioned steps:• 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.
• 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.
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.