Home Insurance in India: What to Cover and What to Skip
Two different covers
Structure insures the cost of rebuilding your home — walls, slab, fixed finishes. Contents insures what you own inside: furniture, appliances, electronics, jewellery. Most buyers need both; most buyers buy neither.
What a standard policy covers
Fire and allied perils typically include fire, lightning, explosion, storm, flood and inundation, impact damage, and often earthquake as an add-on or inbuilt peril depending on the product. Burglary is usually a separate section or add-on.
Sizing it properly
- Structure: insure at reconstruction cost — built-up area multiplied by current construction rate — not at market value, which includes land.
- Contents: make an inventory with purchase values. Photograph everything once a year.
- Jewellery and valuables usually need a declared, separately rated sub-limit.
Add-ons worth considering
Alternative accommodation cover while the home is unliveable, public liability, and cover for electrical breakdown of appliances.
Where claims fail
- Under-insurance — claims scale down proportionately if the declared value is too low.
- No proof of ownership for contents.
- Long-term policies never updated after major renovation.
- Assuming the society's building policy covers your interiors — it usually does not.
- Waiting to inform the insurer; most policies require prompt notification.
For apartment owners
Confirm what the association's policy covers, then insure your interiors and contents yourself. Rented out? Insure the structure and contents you own; the tenant insures theirs.
Practical step
Multi-year policies are cheaper, but revisit your sum insured after any renovation. Our property support desk can help estimate current reconstruction cost for your home.