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Underwriting & Risk

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August 14, 2026

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Underwriting & Risk - June 20, 2026 - 10 min read

Underwriting Above the Snowline: GLOF Exposure for Himalayan Hydropower, Transmission and Project Cargo in 2026

Glacial lake outburst floods are a low-frequency, total-loss peril that ordinary STFI and flood wordings handle badly. The 2023 Teesta-III loss, where GLOF cover sat capped at Rs 500 crore against a Rs 11,400 crore sum insured, shows why brokers need a deliberate GLOF underwriting framework for Himalayan project risk.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 19, 2026 - 10 min read

IS 1893:2025 Redraws the Hazard Map: What the New Seismic Code and Zone 6 Mean for Earthquake Underwriting and Retrofit Credits

The Bureau of Indian Standards drafted a probabilistic seismic code with a top-tier Zone 6, then withdrew it in March 2026. The hazard picture it surfaced does not revert with the gazette. This post turns that signal into earthquake rate movement, retrofit-credit logic and sum-insured adequacy for brokers.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 18, 2026 - 9 min read

Reading GIC Re's Numbers: Loss-Making Segments, Obligatory Cession and Retrocession in India 2026

GIC Re sits at the centre of the Indian non-life market as the national reinsurer. The health of its segment-level results in fire, agriculture, health and aviation shapes the treaty terms every primary insurer can offer. This piece reads the reinsurer's own underwriting economics: the obligatory cession it receives, the segments that have run loss-making, and the retrocession it buys to protect its tail. It then explains why all of that flows back into the capacity and conditions a commercial buyer sees at renewal.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 18, 2026 - 10 min read

Hail Becomes a Costed Peril: Severe Convective Storm Accumulation Underwriting for Indian Solar, Agri and Stockyard Risks in 2026

Aon's January 2026 report named severe convective storms the costliest insured peril of the century, and hail drives most of it. Indian underwriters have buried this exposure inside undifferentiated STFI loadings. This is how brokers should expect SCS to be isolated, zoned, sub-limited and separately deductibled on spring placements.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 17, 2026 - 14 min read

Underwriting OT and ICS Cyber Risk for Indian Manufacturing in 2026: The Property and Cyber Boundary

As Indian factories connect their plant floors to corporate networks, a cyber intrusion can now stop a line, damage machinery and trigger business interruption, exposures that standard cyber policies and property policies each handle only partly. This post sets out the OT/IT convergence problem, the physical-damage-from-cyber gap, the silent-cyber and property overlap, and how underwriters assess and structure cover for operational-technology risk.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 16, 2026 - 8 min read

Occupancy and Protection Grading in India 2026: Turning Loss-Control Survey Data Into Underwriting Decisions Under De-Tariffed Pricing

With fire rates de-tariffed, the underwriter's discretion now rests on how well a risk's occupancy, construction and protection are graded, and that grading is only as good as the loss-control survey behind it. This piece explains how occupancy classification, protection grading and survey data translate into rate, terms and capacity in 2026, and how commercial buyers can use the survey to earn better pricing rather than dread it.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 15, 2026 - 7 min read

The Dry-Monsoon Underwriting Trap: Why India's Below-Normal 2026 Forecast Should Not Loosen Flood Underwriting

The India Meteorological Department's 2026 forecast of a below-normal monsoon, at around 92 percent of the long-period average (with a model error of plus or minus 5 percent) under developing El Nino conditions, invites a dangerous assumption: that a dry year means a benign flood year. This piece explains why seasonal-average rainfall is a poor guide to commercial flood loss, how localised cloudbursts and urban flash floods detach from the headline number, and how underwriters and buyers should treat a below-normal forecast.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 14, 2026 - 8 min read

The De-Tariffing Correction in India 2026: STFI, IIB Burning Costs and the Return of Minimum Rates Through the Reinsurance Treaty

De-tariffing of fire wordings and rates from April 2024 was meant to free pricing, but a sharp slide in fire and property rates pushed discipline back through the reinsurance treaty rather than the tariff. This piece explains how minimum storm, tempest, flood and inundation (STFI) and earthquake rates tied to flood and seismic zone, and IIB burning costs built by occupancy class in rate-per-mille terms, are quietly re-anchoring fire pricing in 2026, and how a commercial buyer should read a quote against those floors.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 14, 2026 - 14 min read

ESG in the Underwriting Room: How Climate, Transition and Governance Risk Are Repricing Indian Commercial Property and Liability in 2026

ESG has moved from the boardroom into the underwriting room, where physical climate risk now feeds property rating, transition risk loads carbon-intensive industries, and governance failures drive D&O claims. This post sets out what ESG data underwriters now request, how greenwashing in submissions creates its own exposure, and how buyers in steel, cement and power should prepare for an underwriting view that prices these factors.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 14, 2026 - 13 min read

Underwriting D&O for Newly Listed Indian Companies in 2026: The Post-IPO Step-Change in Exposure

An IPO transforms a company's directors-and-officers risk overnight: prospectus liability attaches, public shareholders can sue, SEBI enforcement reaches the board, and securities-class-action exposure appears. This post sets out how underwriters price and structure D&O for fresh Indian listings, what IPO and POSI cover does, how SEBI LODR and enforcement drive the risk, and what governance signals underwriters look for.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 12, 2026 - 9 min read

Risk-Based Capital and Ind AS 117 in India 2026: How the Capital and Accounting Overhaul Reshapes Commercial Underwriting

India's general insurers are moving toward a risk-based capital regime and Ind AS 117 reporting, with the original April 2026 timeline now contested by a General Insurance Council request for a year's extension. This piece explains why the twin reform matters for commercial underwriting: capital will be charged in proportion to the risks an insurer actually writes, and profit will be recognised differently, which changes appetite, pricing and line size on volatile property and casualty risks.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 12, 2026 - 15 min read

Underwriting Product Liability for Indian Auto-Component Exporters to the US and EU in 2026

An Indian auto-component maker shipping to US and EU vehicle programmes carries product-liability exposure shaped by foreign litigation, recall economics and contractual flow-down from the OEM, not by the Indian claims environment it knows. This post sets out the jurisdictional exposure, the recall and financial-loss extensions, the OEM vendor-liability flow-down, sum-insured adequacy for foreign claims, and what underwriters assess on quality and traceability.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 9, 2026 - 13 min read

Experience Rating and Burning Cost in Commercial Insurance 2026: How Loss History Sets the Premium

The underwriter's loss-cost model is the single biggest lever in a commercial renewal. This post explains burning-cost pricing, experience versus exposure rating, loss development and credibility weighting, and how a broker or buyer uses the rating mechanics to negotiate a defensible premium.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 9, 2026 - 17 min read

Port and Terminal Operator Liability Underwriting in India 2026: TOLL, Stevedore Liability and Care-Custody-Control

Indian port and terminal operators carry a layered liability exposure: legal liability for the cargo and property of others in their care, custody and control, stevedore and cargo-handling liability, damage to port equipment, marine and pollution risk, and the indemnities written into concession contracts. Underwriting the class means reading the terminal operator legal liability cover, the contractual position and the Major Port Authorities Act context together.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 8, 2026 - 16 min read

PML, MFL and the COPE Study: How Indian Property Underwriters Derive Maximum Loss and How Brokers Challenge an Inflated PML

Probable Maximum Loss and Maximum Foreseeable Loss are the numbers that drive property reinsurance, net retention and sum-insured adequacy in the post-de-tariff Indian market, and they are derived from a COPE study (Construction, Occupancy, Protection, Exposure). This piece works through how PML and MFL are built from COPE, how separation and sprinkler credits move them, and how a broker can challenge a PML the underwriter has set too high.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 7, 2026 - 16 min read

Bulk Drug and API Plant Property Underwriting in India 2026: Solvent Fire Load, Reactor Hazard and Supply-Concentration BI

Active pharmaceutical ingredient and bulk drug plants combine large flammable-solvent inventories, exothermic reactor chemistry, hazardous-area electrical classification and a loss history of solvent fires and reactor runaways at Indian API clusters. Property underwriting has to treat the process-fire and explosion exposure seriously and size business interruption against real supply-concentration in the global API market.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 5, 2026 - 10 min read

Underwriting Automated Storage and Retrieval Warehouses in India 2026: High-Bay Fire Risk and Business Interruption

Automated storage and retrieval systems concentrate enormous value in tall, densely packed, hard-to-access structures where fire behaves differently and a single loss is catastrophic. This guide maps how underwriters should assess ASRS and high-bay automated warehouses in India, from in-rack fire protection to the business-interruption exposure of an irreplaceable structure.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 5, 2026 - 13 min read

A Below-Normal 2026 Monsoon Inverts the Risk: Drought, El Nino and Water-Shortage Underwriting for Indian Commercial Risks

For years Indian monsoon underwriting has meant flood and catastrophe. 2026 inverts that: IMD forecasts a below-normal monsoon at 90% of the long-period average, El Nino is developing, and there is about a 60% chance of a deficient season. A drought year reshapes commercial underwriting around water shortage, non-damage business interruption, power generation, agri-corporate and water-intensive manufacturing exposure rather than flood. This piece sets out the inverted framing.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 4, 2026 - 16 min read

Cold Storage and Ammonia Refrigeration Underwriting in India 2026: Fire Load, R-717 Toxicity and Stock Deterioration BI

Cold storage facilities running ammonia (R-717) refrigeration combine fire and earthquake property exposure, a toxic and flammable refrigerant under PESO and Factories Act control, and a stock deterioration business interruption profile that conventional property underwriting templates handle poorly. Underwriters and brokers need a structured approach to the machinery, the refrigerant and the perishable stock together.

By Tarun Kumar Singh

Underwriting & Risk - June 3, 2026 - 13 min read

AI-Powered Cyberattacks 2026: Underwriting and Coverage Implications for Indian Corporates

AI-assisted phishing, deepfake impersonation, and automated multi-stage ransomware are the defining cyber threats of 2026. This guide explains how underwriters now assess and price AI-driven attack vectors for Indian corporates, which controls insurers require, and where coverage triggers and exclusions actually bite.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 2, 2026 - 21 min read

Lithium Refinery Property Underwriting in India 2026: Solvent Extraction, Fire Load and Battery Materials BI Exposure

India's first wave of lithium refineries is being commissioned through 2026 with hydrometallurgical sulphate and hydroxide routes that combine organic solvent fire load, high-temperature processing and battery-grade output. Insurers face a novel risk class that draws on chemical, refining and battery property underwriting precedent.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - June 2, 2026 - 30 min read

Urban Tunnelling and Metro Construction Underwriting in India 2026: TBM Risks, Settlement Liability and Contractors All-Risks Design

Indian metro tunnelling under DMRC, MMRDA, BMRCL, CMRL and KMRL is at record activity in 2026, driven by L&T, Afcons, J Kumar, Tata Projects and HCC. TBM jamming, ground settlement and adjacent-structure liability demand bespoke CAR/ALOP design.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - May 31, 2026 - 28 min read

Cement Kiln Business Interruption Underwriting in India 2026: Refractory Failure, Coal Supply Disruption and BI Indemnity Period

Indian cement producers including UltraTech, Shree Cement, Ambuja and Dalmia face complex BI exposures from kiln refractory failure, coal supply disruption and FGD retrofit downtime in 2026. Underwriters are tightening indemnity periods, sub-limits and stand-by spare warranties.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

Underwriting & Risk - May 30, 2026 - 22 min read

Green Hydrogen Storage Tank Underwriting in India 2026: Embrittlement, Permeation Risk and Property Programme Design

Indian green hydrogen projects under the National Green Hydrogen Mission are now hitting the storage scale at which hydrogen embrittlement, permeation and BLEVE exposures dominate property underwriting. Insurers, PNGRB, OISD and BIS frameworks are still catching up, and broker programme design is the differentiator.

By Sarvada Editorial Team

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