Home insurance covers the loss or damage to the structure and contents in the home due to any of the insured peril up to the sum insured mentioned under the plan in return for a nominal premium. Home insurance can either be taken for the structure or for the structure and content combined. To have a common product for home insurance requirements Insurance development and authority of India has launched Bharat Griha Raksha to cover the structure and contents of a home.
Home insurance can be taken for a short term i.e.1 year or for a long term up to 10 years which is to be decided by the customer. The structure would be covered under reinstatement basis whereas the content would be covered under market value basis. Reinstatement basis is the cost incurred to construct the house due to the loss or damage suffered from an insured peril. Market value is the cost of the product in the market less any depreciation accumulated for the policy period. Home insurance covers the loss or damage to the home due to natural perils as well as man made perils that are mentioned under the policy. There are certain exclusions under the policy which can be covered on payment of additional premium and there are few exclusions that are permanent in nature.
Here are the perils covered under the home insurance policy which includes both the structure as well as the content:
Home insurance covers the below perils same as that of the standard fire and special perils policy
The exclusions are as mentioned below:
Bharat Griha Raksha cover is a policy introduced by the Insurance regulatory and development authority of India as a common policy across all the insurance companies with same features and pricing for all insurers. The coverage of the policy is as mentioned under:
This section covers the structure of the home only.
This section covers the articles in the home. If home building cover is also taken then the general contents are covered automatically for up to 20% of the sum insured or a maximum of Rs.10 Lakh unless the insured opts for a higher sum insured for home contents under the policy.
The below covers are available to the customer on payment of additional premium.
The major advantage of the Griha raksha policy is that it gives levy for underinsurance under the plan. The policy provides a 10% escalation benefit on the basic sum insured which could act as an insulation against the underinsurance at the time of claim settlement. There isn't any underinsurance that is applicable for the Bharat Griha raksha policy as of the time of settlement. Underinsurance occurs when the insured amount of the property is lower than the value actually for the home. Under insurance happens if the insured value of the property is less than the reinstatement value i.e. the cost of reinstating the property is higher than the original sum insured mentioned under the policy. Under insurance would considerably reduce the claim amount which is detrimental to the insured who is already suffering from loss.
There are no tax benefits that can be availed towards the premium paid for the home insurance policy. But the proceedings or the claim amount received due to the damage to the house would be tax exempted as it would not come under capital gains under the income tax act. The claim proceedings are seen as a form of compensation for the loss suffered by the insured and there is no capital gain which exempts it from income tax.