BRIEF HISTORY OF INSURANCE

Insurance is a means provided for protection from financial loss. It is generally in the form of a contract, represented by policy under which one receive financial protection or a reimbursement of losses from the insurance firm. There are different types of insurances like life insurance, health insurance, automobile insurance, home insurance, cargo insurance, long-term care insurance etc.

As early as 4000-3000 BC so called  bottomry contracts were known to merchants of Babylon. The same bottomry was practiced by Hindus in 600 BC  and in ancient Greece in 4th century BC. Under the bottomry contract, loans were granted to merchants with the provision that if the shipment was lost at sea the loan did not have to be repaid. The interest on the loan covered the insurance risk. However marine insurance was well developed by the 15th century.

The first American insurance company was formed by Benjamin Franklin in 1752. By 1820 there were 17 insurance companies in New York alone. The first Indian life insurance company was Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society started in 1870. By 1907 a good number of insurance companies came into existence in India. Top 5 countries in the world by life and non-life direct premiums written by 2019 are: USA, China, Japan, UK and France.

Major claim settlements are:
Marine cargo from London to Germany lost in the sea alongwith ship crew in 1799 paid $18 million plus $27 million ( in today's rate a whopping $450 million)

China earth quake, $1 billion.
Haiti hurricane in North America in 2008, $20.5 billion.
Tsunami in Japan in 2011, $35 billion.

Actor Rowan Atkinson's car accident claim in 2011 is the highest auto claim settled by an insurance company - $1,133,000.

According to Guinness Book of World Records the largest life insurance policy was bought by an unnamed California tech in 2014 for $201 million.

Top insurance companies in the world are:
Berkshire Hathaway
Ping An Insurance
Allianz SE
AXA SA
Prudential PLC
Aviva PLC

KV George
kvgeorgein@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POVERTY LEVEL OF INDIA - A COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIAN REPORT AND UNDP REPORT

Image
According to the estimate of Ojha 190 million (44%) people of India were below poverty line in 1961. While the extreme poverty line in our country went from 60% in 1981 to 33% in 2010. People below poverty line in India in 1999-2000 came to 26%. Poverty line recorded in India in 2021 was 11.9%. India's poverty line declined to 4.5%-5% in 2022-23 with rural poverty declining to 7.2% and urban poverty down to 4.6%. By 2024 the poverty level is found to have come down to 2.4%. (The above informations are gathered from various websources. In case the readers want total accuracy in the above reports, they are requested to approach the related government sources) Further to the above information, here it is submitted - National Multidimensional Poverty Index, A Progress Review 2023 of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) According to the report, 135 million people escaped multidimensional poverty between 2015-16.and 2019-2021  The country registered a significant decli
Read more

ESTIMATED PRICES OF SELECTED ITEMS IN THE YEAR 2100

Image
While  evaluating the prices of some selected goods and services in 1950-60s and 2020s we may assume the prices of those in the year 2100 Rice per kg 1950-60s - 6 Annas 2020-22 - Rs 40/- 2100 - Rs 4,000/- Tea per cup 1950-60s - 1 Anna 2020-22 - Rs 10/- 2100 - Rs 1,600/- Non veg meals 1950-60s - 8 Anna's 2020-22 - Rs 150/- 2100 - Rs 45,000/- Sardine fish per 100 nos (approx. 3 kgs) 1950-60s - 1 Anna 2020-22 - Rs 100/- per kg 2100 - Rs 33,000/- per kg. Hair cut 1950-60s - 6 Annas 2020-22 - Rs 120/- 2100 - Rs 40,000/- Beer per bottle (650ml) 1950-60 - Rs 5/- 2020-22 - Rs 140/- 2100 - Rs 3,900/- Bus minimum charge 1950-60s - 1 Anna 2020-22 - Rs 10/- 2100 - Rs 1,700/- Minimum wages for unskilled worker per day 1950-60s - Re 1/- 2020-22 - Rs 800/- 2100 - Rs 6,40,000/- Note: The prices of 1950-60s and 2020-22 are from available sources and the prices indicated in 2100 are on the basis of assumption, no reliability may be expected. K V George
Read more

ENVIABLE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Image
       Daily sight of Ganga in Banaras  When  compare ourselves with other countries, we Indians become envied to some of those. For us those countries are just imaginary or Heavenly countries. We may first see some with lowest murder cases among the world countries. (The figures shown below are number of murders per lakh of population. Monaco - 0, Palau - 0, Hong Kong - 0.2, Iceland - 0.3, Singapore - 0.3, Japan 0.4, Brunei - 0.5, Luxembourg - 0.6, Baharain - 0.6, Norway - 0.6 The rate in India in comparison is, 3.08 per lakh of population or 82 per day. The following eight countries have made historic changes in their laws that discriminated, marginalized and silenced women. They have brought in new laws to ensure stringent punishment for those committing any offences against women, girls and infants. Various safety and protective measures including socioeconomic upliftment are also introduced by many of these countries. Those eight countries are: Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Jor
Read more