Kota
Kota. The sector where the statutory liability position is strictest and least often complied with. Every line below is something to check against your own policies. 3 of them rest on a specific statute, named alongside with the condition it applies under.
| Status | Cover | What it answers for |
|---|---|---|
| Required by law | Motor third-party | Third-party cover is compulsory for any vehicle used in a public place.Applies when: The business owns or operates any vehicle.Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 |
| Required by law | Public liability | Immediate compensation to those affected by an accident involving hazardous substances. Non-compliance can reach directors and owners personally.Applies when: Handling hazardous substances as defined by the Act.Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 |
| Required by law | Workmen's / Employees' Compensation | Employer liability for injury, occupational disease or death at work.Applies when: Employing workers in a Schedule II occupation — factories, construction, mines, transport, docks and plantations among them.Employees' Compensation Act, 1923 |
| Standard | Burglary and housebreaking | Stock and contents against forcible entry. Fire does not cover theft.Applies when: Stock or valuable contents held on the premises. |
| Standard | Business interruption | Gross profit lost after an insured stoppage.Applies when: Where a stoppage halts revenue. |
| Standard | Machinery breakdown | Reactors, compressors, boilers.Applies when: Owned process plant. |
| Standard | Standard fire and special perils | Buildings, plant, stock and contents against fire and the named perils. Almost always the first policy a commercial client buys, and usually a condition of any secured borrowing against the asset.Applies when: Any owned or leased premises, plant or stock. |
| Worth asking | Cyber | Breach response, business interruption from an attack, and third-party liability. Awareness among Indian SMEs is very low, which makes it a conversation nobody else is having.Applies when: Any business holding customer data or dependent on systems. |
| Worth asking | Group medical | Hospitalisation cover for employees and usually their dependants. The policy an owner renews with the most anxiety, so it is the easiest door into an account somebody else holds.Applies when: Typically from around 20 employees, though insurers differ. |
| Worth asking | Group personal accident | Accident cover for staff, on duty and often off it. Frequently confused with employees' compensation, which it does not replace.Applies when: Any employer — but it is a benefit, not a statutory substitute. |
| Worth asking | Product liability | Third-party injury or damage caused by the product after it has left the premises.Applies when: Anything sold on, especially where it is exported. |
For chemical and allied manufacturing, the covers resting on a statute are: Motor third-party, Public liability, Workmen's / Employees' Compensation. Each applies only under the condition stated beside it, so whether it binds a particular business is a question of fact, not of trade. The acts involved are Employees' Compensation Act, 1923; Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991.
Rarely. A fire policy answers for the named perils on the property described in it. It does not cover theft, it does not follow goods onto a lorry, it does not answer for machinery that fails electrically, and it does not replace the profit lost while the business is stopped. Those are separate covers, listed above.
The policy schedule and the full policy wording, not just the certificate. The schedule shows the sum insured and the premium; the wording is what decides a claim. RFS reads both at no charge and will tell you what it finds whether or not you place anything through us.