Insurance Cover To The Drone Industry

The popular uses for Drones in today’s world range from remote sensing, Commercial aerial surveillance, disaster relief, commercial and motion picture filmmaking, oil-gas and mineral exploration and the most common of all being for recreational use. With all these scenarios, the demand for a specific Insurance Program for Drones is more pressing than ever.

IRDAI has set up a working group to come up with recommendations for a broad policy framework and procedure for providing insurance cover to the drone industry.  They have also suggested various risks associated with the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) which would need a uniquely designed Insurance Product.

The working group is said to come up with a Specimen Policy coverage and wording for Drone Insurance including the various specific and relevant definitions and coverages including third party liabilities, the hull cover and personal accident / medical coverage for the operators. The various procedures to be followed for claim documentation and process also would be an area covered.

Though the drone ecosystem is in nascent stages in India, world over drones have become more popular and have also gotten classified as an aircraft by the aviation regulators.

A few Indian Insurers are using drones in crop cutting experiments and survey of industrial units while they offer property insurance programs.

As per the report of the working group, ‘drone insurance coverage’ can be broken into three sets — physical damage/loss to drone due to various contingencies, third party liability arising due to usage of drone, and any additional coverage like theft, night flying etc.