ICC Men\'s Cricket World Cup insured for Rs 1750 crore

Mumbai: Star India has taken a Rs 1750 crore insurance cover against any potential advertisement revenue loss for all the matches that will be played during the ICC Men’s Cricket World cup in India. The highly anticipated clash between arch foes India and Pakistan have been insured for Rs 110 crore, industry sources told FC. According to the terms and conditions of the policy cover, incase of matches getting canceled, the maximum amount that will be paid by insurance companies to Disney Star would be around Rs 500 crore. The policy is designed in a way that it will cover match cancellation due to weather conditions and catastrophes.

New India Assurance is the lead insurer covering 73 per cent of the risk followed by SBI General Insurance that has a share of 25 per cent and Future Generali India Insurance covering the remaining two per cent risk in the policy. 

“This time, the policy sum insured is for Rs 1750 crore covering advertisement loss due to cancellation of matches. The loss limit (maximum amount insurers will pay) has been increased to Rs 500 crore with per match limit at Rs 45 crore excluding final and India matches. In 2019 World Cup, the total sum insured was Rs 1477 crore, premium was Rs 59 crore, loss limit was Rs 150 crore and the per match limit was Rs 40 crore,” an industry official told FC.

“All the matches where India will play has been insured for Rs 110 crore. The final match also has insurance protection of Rs 110 crore. This is a full match cover for Star India (Disney Hotstar) and not one ball bowled cover,” said an industry official.

The tournament is expected to generate Rs 2,000-Rs 2,200 crore in combined ad revenue on TV and digital platforms compared to the Rs 1,350 crore it did four years ago in the 2019 edition, according to a note from brokerage firm Elara Capital. There are 26 brands that have signed up as sponsors this year including PhonePe, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, MRF Tyres, LendingKart, BPCL, Google Pay and others.

The coveted tournament that began on Thursday is spread over 45 days (Oct 5 to Nov 19) with 48 matches between 10 teams with atleast 25 lakh people coming to witness the sporting extravaganza at the 10 venues across the country. Ahmedabad will host the opening match and the final. The total viewership (through mediums such as TV, OTT) is expected to be far larger than 552 million Indian viewers for the 2019 World Cup, while a large number is also expected to watch the highly anticipated tournament from their homes across the globe.