No mandating of cover for goods in transit; it’s insurers’ business: Gadkari

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has said that details of insurance will have to be decided between the consumer and the transporter. It is the job of insurer to convince the transporter, he said. While launching a report of the Transport Corporation of India and Insurance Institute of India, he said that the report recommends that logistics service providers may appeal to the Ministry to make insurance mandatory for all transported goods — at least those moved by through third party logistics service providers. As logistics has become integrated with supply chain, services have become more complex and setting limits on liability has become difficult, the study said citing UNESCAP. Freight charges Freight charged by logistics service providers is not sufficient to meet the risk exposure of transportation and warehousing losses even though the losses are infrequent, the study found. Big logistics players can think of creating protection and indemnity clubs to take care of those risks and claims that are not covered under insurance policies, recommended the study. Carriers legal policies need to be rejigged by insurers after understanding the present day realities of the logistics and warehousing industry, it added. There are several insurance requirements of the logistics industry which are not designed by the insurers, said the study.