After witnessing three washed out ICC World Cup matches following rains in the cricket stadiums in England and Wales, Indian insurers incurred a loss of approximately 180 crores on account of this.

The nature of the World Cup tournament is so hectic that it is impossible to re-schedule the cancelled matches except for the semi-final and final. So far, 25 of 48 matches have been conducted, of which 4 were washed out and three were cancelled without a single ball being bowled. The sum insured for a regular match by television broadcasters who have already paid ICC for broadcast rights and have hence lost on advertising revenue would be around 60 crores. The semi-finals and the final will, however, cost up to 80 crores.

“Given that this is a speciality risk, cover is usually provided by international underwriters from Lloyd’s. From what we hear, the Lloyd’s market had maxed out on its capacity to provide support to the World Cup as it has provided cover to other broadcasters and the event. This would mean that Indian underwriters would need to use their capacity for this cover,” the director of JLT Independent Insurance Brokers said. “India is certainly the biggest market, considering that $1 billion worth of sponsorship comes from India alone out of the total $1.5 billion,” he added.