The Road So Far to Micro Insurance: the Financial Revolution In the Services For the Poor |

ABSTRACT:

For Enterprise and Economyto prosper, Insurance is more of a “partnership that allows individuals andbusinesses to spread their wings and go where they might otherwise would nothave dared to go”. In this context, Micro insurance, relatively a new term, isaimed at poor sections of the population and is a fast – growing sectorproviding innovative tools for risk protection of low income people. It hasbecome an integral part of poverty eradication programs to strengthen thedevelopment of both the financial, health and social security systems. Theoccurrence of any emergency or risk has the tendency to easily erode the hardearned incomes of the poor households. This is particularly thecase when households have no formal cover over them .Micro-insurance serves asa shock reliever to major risks and ensure that the household involved cancontinue on their route to escaping poverty. The present study is an attempt toanalyse the current status of micro insurance in India and the importantinitiatives taken in this regard, both by public players as well as privatesector enterprises. The study also reviews the commonly faced problems andchallenges in micro insurance and throws light on the implementable suggestionsto make micro-insurance more inclusive to make rural poor risk appetitestronger.