Insurance brokerage firm Marsh India, a subsidiary of US-based Marsh Inc, on Friday launched a specialist contamination insurance product for water utilities for strengthening their resilience to risks in the wake of tightening regulatory frameworks.
Marsh is the first company in India to offer such a product for drinking water contamination, including losses associated with a terrorist attack, extortion costs and goodwill payments to customers.
Launching the product, Marsh India Country Head and CEO Sanjay Kedia said, "traditional property and liability policies often provide limited protection against serious water contamination incidents even though such incidents can have serious regulatory, financial and reputational implications for a utility."
"The costs associated with clean-up, providing bottled water, customer communication and compensation can be high."
"Marsh plans to work with insurers to structure and launch the product in line with market and regulatory requirements here," he said.
This insurance can provide cover of up to 10 million pounds for accidental contamination, malicious contamination or extortion relating to the water supply. This includes payments to domestic and business customers affected by the contamination and those suffering from injury or illness caused by consuming the polluted water.
