Rajasthan · mustard, guar, cumin · produce in transit
Farm Produce in Transit: Weight, Water and the Two Exclusions
Rajasthan is India's largest producer of mustard and guar, and its produce moves by road from mandi to processor to port in volume through the harvest. The losses are rarely dramatic: a little weight lost, a little water taken on, a few bags short. Two exclusions decide most of these claims, and they are worth knowing before the season starts.
Key takeaways
- Ordinary loss in weight or volume is excluded under every clause set. A consignment that weighs a little less at the processor than at the mandi has not suffered an insured loss unless something caused it.
- Inherent vice is excluded too: produce loaded with too much moisture can heat, sprout or mould in the bag, and the insurer will treat that as the nature of the goods, not the journey.
- Rain wetting, theft and short delivery are not among ITC-B's seven named perils. ITC-A, the all-risks version, is what responds to them.
- Harvest-season volumes swing sharply, so a declaration policy set at the peak and declared as you go keeps every load covered without paying for the peak all year.
- Moisture readings and weighbridge slips at loading are the evidence that separates an insured loss from an excluded one.
What actually goes wrong, and whether it is covered
Read this against your own policy schedule. The clause set named there decides which rows below you are insured for.
| Exposure | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Rain and water ingress | Bags wetted under a failed tarpaulin. Not an ITC-B peril; covered under ITC-A subject to the exclusions. |
| Shortage and pilferage | Bags missing, or bags slit and partly emptied. Theft and non-delivery are outside ITC-B, and a shortage that is not counted at delivery is very hard to claim. |
| Moisture, heating and mould | Produce despatched damp deteriorates in the bag. Treated as inherent vice and excluded, unless the water came in during the journey. |
| Contamination | Produce loaded into a truck or container that carried something else, or stored next to it. Worth checking the wording on, because the commercial loss can be total. |
| Overturning and collision | Covered under ITC-B, and the peril the cheapest cover is actually for. |
If it happens: the first four things
In order. The first two are the ones people get wrong, and they are the ones that cannot be fixed afterwards.
- Record moisture and weight at loading, with the weighbridge slip, and photograph the load and the tarpaulin.
- Weigh and count again at delivery and have any shortage, wetting or slit bags endorsed on the lorry receipt before accepting the load.
- Keep the damaged bags apart and untouched for the surveyor. Re-bagging or selling them first removes the evidence.
- Notify the insurer at once and the transporter in writing well inside 180 days of booking under section 16 of the Carriage by Road Act, 2007.
Written notice to the transporter must go within 180 days of the booking date under section 16 of the Carriage by Road Act, 2007. Not from the date of loss, and a claim bill does not count as notice. The wording is ready to copy at our claim letters page.
The words the trade actually uses
Useful when the loss is being described by a driver, a munshi or a godown supervisor rather than by you.
| Hindi | What it means for the policy |
|---|---|
| सरसों | mustard |
| ग्वार | guar |
| जीरा | cumin |
| नमी | moisture, which decides an inherent vice argument |
| मंडी | the market yard where the journey usually starts |
Export and the sea leg
Guar gum and spices leave India in volume through the Gujarat ports. Once on the water an export is an Institute Cargo Clauses risk, which carries the same exclusions for ordinary loss in weight and inherent vice. Under FOB or CFR the road leg from Rajasthan to the port stays the seller's risk.
The clause sets themselves are set out in full on our marine cargo clauses page, including the seven named perils under ITC-B taken from an insurer's filed wording.
Frequently asked questions
Does transit insurance cover loss of weight in mustard or guar?
Not ordinary loss in weight, which every clause set excludes. A loss of weight caused by an insured event, such as bags torn or stolen in transit, can be claimed under ITC-A if it is recorded at delivery.
Is moisture damage to grain or seed covered in transit?
Only if the water entered during the journey and the policy covers it, which ITC-B does not. Deterioration because the produce was loaded damp is inherent vice and excluded under every clause set.
What is the right transit cover for a trader moving produce in season?
An open or declaration policy on ITC-A, with the sum insured per truck set at the largest load and the declarations filed as despatches happen, so the harvest peak is covered without insuring it all year.
Why was my produce transit claim rejected?
Most often because the loss was ordinary loss in weight, or deterioration from moisture present at loading, both excluded; or because the policy was ITC-B and the loss was wetting or theft; or because nothing was endorsed at delivery.
Related: Marine cargo clauses explained · Marine cargo calculator · Inland transit insurance · Warehousing and cold storage · The letters to send after a loss.