Nepal: Regulator makes it mandatory for insurers to go rural
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Apr 2015
In a bid to increase insurance penetration in rural and interior areas of the country, the Beema Samiti (Insurance Regulator of Nepal) has made it mandatory for non-life insurers to provide agriculture insurance services and has assigned them certain districts to carry out the business.
Under the new rules, all non-life insurers, except those in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, will have to engage in agriculture insurance business.
Beema Samiti Chairman Fatta Bahadur KC said that they had to force the insurers to go to various districts as coverage remained lower than expected. “With this measure, we plan to spread agriculture insurance coverage in all 75 districts,” he added.
The government has raised subsidy on agriculture insurance to 75% this fiscal, up from 50% last fiscal. From this fiscal year, crop insurance has also been included to the list of agriculture insurance while it was just for cattle until last fiscal.