• Insurance in India
• SEWA Insurance
• Insurance Schemes Table
• Lessons Learnt
• Vimo SEWA – Vision for Future
• Future Challenges

Vimo SEWA (Gujarati name for SEWA Insurance) – Vision for Future

As insurance in India is being opened for the private sector many international and local companies are entering in this field. Most of them are offering life insurance.

After ten years’ of experience of insurance with the poor, SEWA is now familiar with the needs of poor people. On the other hand, neither the government nor private companies have yet fulfilled the needs of the poor and rural people. SEWA plans to start an insurance company or cooperative (when the current law is amended) to be run and owned by poor women. The main objective of it is

1. to bring the poor women of the informal economy into the main stream
2. to provide need based, affordable and suitable insurance services to these women.

VimoSewa – a Brief Update as on 1 September 2001

Membership on July, 2001

1. New Membership (after July 1):

Women	186
Men	136
Total	322

Insureds:
Total Fixed Deposits (F.D.s) since July 1 = 255.

Note: Number of F.D.’s less than total insured above because many women took joint F.D.s with their husbands.

2. Operations

a) Life Insurance – claims processed within one month of submission

b) Health Insurance – claims processed within fifteen days of submission

c) Asset Insurance - claims processed within fifteen days of submission

Earthquake claims –

1. Surendranagar district – have been disbursed, a few remaining pending confirmation of woman’s membership of VimoSEWA.

2. Patan district (Banaskantha) – check given to BDMSA, Disbursement pending due to need to confirm membership (as above)

3. Ahmedabad city and district claim disbursement is in progress. The above will be completed by Sept. 15, 2001

Top

Future Challenges

1. To start a company, SEWA needs a capital of Rs 100 crores ($23 million) as per the law in India. Currently SEWA is looking into the possibilities of partnering to develop the proposed insurance company or cooperative and to raise the required capital.

2. In order to manage the enhanced volume of business and services it requires professionals with technical and managerial skills different from those required by a trade union.

3. The members of SEWA, repeatedly face crises and disasters. In last five years they have faced one flood, two cyclones, three droughts, one epidemic and the worst of all, this year’s earthquake. Therefore reinsurance is a must. Vimo SEWA is looking for suitable reinsurance to run a sustainable and financially-viable insurance business.

Lastly, SEWA has always stood firm in the marketplace, in the banking sector and, in general, on equal terms. We have struggled for the past thirty years for visibility and a voice for women workers, thus putting an end to their marginalisation. We have always favoured entering the mainstream based on our collective strength and bargaining power.

For us it is important to be a part of the mainstream, for we firmly believe that we are the mainstream, because we represent the mass of people in this country who are poor, working people, the poorest being women. We want to move from the periphery to the center, where we believe women workers belong.

Thus being an insurance company or cooperative on equal terms with other such companies, being registered and licensed by the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, India) is part of our efforts to be in the mainstream of our country’s economic life.

Through Vimo SEWA and, ultimately, our own insurance company or cooperative we will help women achieve their goals of full employment and self reliance and to lead more safe and secure lives.

Top