Quick answers
How can I protect my family financially from floods or fires?
Check whether your home, shop or vehicle is insured for fire and flood, enrol in low-cost government schemes such as PMSBY or PMJJBY, and keep digital copies of policies in DigiLocker.
What is the difference between disaster relief and insurance?
The State Disaster Response Fund gives ex-gratia relief payments, which are not insurance. Relief money helps for a short time, while insurance can support rebuilding for much longer.
Does Ayushman Bharat cover property loss in a disaster?
No. Ayushman Bharat is limited to medical treatment and does not cover property loss.
Where can I complain about delays in a disaster insurance claim?
Complain first to your insurer's grievance officer. If the problem is not solved, take it to IRDAI through its Bima Bharosa portal, and keep digital copies of your policies ready.
What does PMSBY cover and what does it cost?
It costs ₹20 a year through your bank account and pays ₹2 lakh for accidental death or total permanent disability and ₹1 lakh for partial permanent disability, for ages 18 to 70. It does not pay hospital bills or property loss.
What does PMJJBY cover?
It gives life cover of ₹2 lakh for death from any cause, for ages 18 to 50, at ₹436 a year. It is a one-year renewable cover taken through a bank or post office.
How much does the state pay for a death in a disaster?
Under the State Disaster Response Fund norms for 2021-22 to 2025-26, the ex-gratia is ₹4 lakh for each life lost. Norms for the new Finance Commission period were not confirmed, so check the current amount with your district administration.
After the 2018 Kerala floods, a UN-led Post Disaster Needs Assessment put the cost of recovery and rebuilding at about ₹31,000 crore. Government relief payments help families get through the first weeks, but they were never designed to cover losses of that size.
No verified national figure for the share of disaster victims who receive insurance compensation could be traced, so none is given here.
For most families, the disaster does not end when the water goes down or the fire is put out. That is when the real struggle starts: a damaged house, a ruined shop, a lost crop, a breadwinner in hospital. Rescue saves lives. Insurance is what helps people rebuild them.
Why this matters
Whether it is a flood in a village, a fire in a market or a road crash that injures the earning member of a family, money is often the difference between recovering and sliding into debt. Yet very few low-income households in India have any insurance on their home, shop or belongings.
What the data can and cannot show
India does not publish a single official year-by-year series of disaster losses, insured losses and the share covered by insurance. An earlier 2019 to 2025 table and a “stagnant at 8%” claim on this page could not be traced to IRDAI or NDMA and have been withdrawn.
What exists today
- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): crop insurance for farmers.
- Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY): accident insurance through your bank. It pays ₹2 lakh for accidental death or total permanent disability and ₹1 lakh for partial permanent disability, for ₹20 a year (ages 18 to 70).
- Ayushman Bharat: covers hospital treatment, not property loss.
- State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF): pays ex-gratia relief after notified disasters. This is relief, not insurance.
- Home and shop insurance from general insurers can cover fire, flood, cyclone and earthquake damage, but only if you buy it.
Each of these covers one piece. None of them protects a family’s home, livelihood and health together.
Where these schemes stand in 2026
PMSBY and PMJJBY. The two bank-linked schemes have grown very large. Finance Ministry data as on 1 July 2026, as reported, puts cumulative enrolments at about 58.78 crore for PMSBY and 27.84 crore for PMJJBY. PMSBY costs ₹20 a year and covers accidental death and disability. PMJJBY costs ₹436 a year and gives life cover, at ₹2 lakh, for death from any cause. Both are one-year covers that renew every year, so the enrolment figure counts everyone who has ever signed up, not the number covered today. On the ministry’s own page, as on 12 February 2025, PMSBY had received 2,02,106 claims and paid 1,52,333, which is about three out of four claims.
Crop insurance. In January 2025 the Union Cabinet continued the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and the weather-based crop insurance scheme, till 2025-26, with an outlay of ₹69,515.71 crore for the five years from 2021-22. A notification for the 2026-27 seasons is not confirmed, so ask your bank or the agriculture office what applies to your crop this year.
Relief money. Under the State Disaster Response Fund norms for the 15th Finance Commission period, 2021-22 to 2025-26, the ex-gratia is ₹4 lakh for each life lost, and about ₹1.2 lakh for a fully damaged house, as summarised in a December 2025 explainer. The Centre and the states share the fund 75 to 25, and 90 to 10 for northeastern and Himalayan states. A new Finance Commission period began in April 2026, and no new list of norms for it has been traced, so check the National Disaster Management Division of the Home Ministry before you quote any amount.
Case study: Kerala floods (2018)
- Recovery needs: about ₹31,000 crore, according to the UN-led Post Disaster Needs Assessment presented to the Kerala government in October 2018.
- Insurance: no verified figure for claims filed, claims settled or the share of uninsured households has been traced.
- Lesson: insurance has to be in place before the disaster. It cannot be arranged afterwards.
A second example: Wayanad landslides (July 2024)
- What was lost: Kerala estimated its losses from the July 2024 Wayanad landslides at ₹2,200 crore.
- What the Centre sanctioned: ₹260 crore, as reported in a summary of the case in a December 2025 explainer. That is about 12 per cent of the estimate, by our arithmetic.
- Lesson: relief funds are meant to meet urgent needs, and they are not built to replace what a household or a state has lost. Insurance that is bought beforehand is the only part that scales with the loss.
No published count of insured households in Wayanad was found, so none is given.
Gaps in disaster insurance
- Low awareness. Many people do not know that home and shop policies can cover floods and fires, or that PMSBY exists.
- No requirement for property insurance in flood- or fire-prone areas.
- Slow claim settlement after large disasters, when insurers face thousands of claims at once.
- Informal workers often have no cover at all.
- Weak coordination between insurers, disaster authorities and state governments.
Why there is no international table here
An earlier country table on this page (Japan 92%, USA 85% and so on) and a “lowest in Asia” ranking could not be traced to any published source and have been withdrawn. Countries define insured disaster losses differently, so the figures are not directly comparable.
The way forward
- A national disaster insurance framework, worked out between disaster authorities and the insurance regulator.
- Low-cost, simple disaster cover for homes in high-risk zones, with government support for the poorest families.
- Public and private insurers sharing disaster risk through a common pool.
- Insurance offered as a standard option with home, shop and MSME loans.
- Simple online claim filing, with fast-track settlement after notified disasters.
What you can do
- Check whether your home, shop and vehicle are insured against fire and flood, and what the policy actually covers.
- Enrol in PMSBY and PMJJBY through your bank. They cost very little.
- Keep digital copies of your policies, Aadhaar, bank details and property papers in DigiLocker, so you can claim even if the paper copies are lost.
- Take photos of your home and stock every year. They make a claim much easier.
- If a claim is delayed, complain to the insurer’s grievance officer first, and then to IRDAI through its Bima Bharosa portal.
A worked example: what ₹20 a year does, and does not, do
This is an illustration with round numbers, not a real case. Take a daily-wage worker who has a bank account and enrols in PMSBY. Ten years of premium comes to ₹200. If the worker dies in an accident, the family receives ₹2 lakh, which is a thousand times what was paid in. If the worker loses the use of a hand permanently in an accident, the cover is ₹1 lakh.
Now suppose the same worker is badly hurt in a flood-time fall and spends six weeks in hospital and then recovers fully. PMSBY pays nothing, because it covers only death and disability. The hospital bill, the lost wages and the repair of a damaged room all fall on the family unless there is health cover, a home policy or relief money. That is why the post says each scheme covers one piece, and why you need to read what yours covers.
Do this this week
Find your home or shop insurance policy, if you have one, and read what it covers. If you do not have one, ask your bank about PMSBY and get a quote for basic home or shop cover. Rebuilding after a disaster should not depend on donations.
References
What needs attention
- Disaster recovery costs can run into thousands of crores, far beyond relief payments
- India publishes no official figure for how many disaster victims are insured
- Existing schemes each cover one risk, such as crops, accidents or hospital care
- Most low-income households have no insurance on their home, shop or belongings
- Insurance must be in place before a disaster; it cannot be arranged afterwards
- PMSBY and PMJJBY now have tens of crores of enrolments, but each pays only for death or disability, not for property or hospital bills
- In the Wayanad example, central sanction was about 12 per cent of the state's estimated loss
Controls that reduce risk
- Insure your home, shop and stock against fire and flood
- Enrol in PMSBY and PMJJBY through your bank
- Store policies and key documents in DigiLocker
- Photograph your home and stock every year
- Escalate delayed claims to IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal
Common unsafe practices
- Assuming government relief will cover the cost of rebuilding
- Not insuring a home or shop in a flood- or fire-prone area
- Not reading what a policy actually covers
- Keeping policy papers only in paper form at home
- Not enrolling in low-cost schemes like PMSBY and PMJJBY
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