Most small business owners focus heavily on getting their product, sales, and operations right. Insurance tends to get pushed to the back. But a single fire, liability claim, or burglary can set a business back by years. Here’s a practical guide to what small businesses in India actually need.
Fire and Property Insurance: The Starting Point
This covers your business premises and contents like stock, equipment, furniture, machinery – against fire, lightning, flooding, storms, and other named perils. If you have a loan against your business assets, your lender will likely require this as a condition of financing. But even without a loan, it’s the baseline protection for any physical business. IRDAI’s Bharat Sookshma Udyam Suraksha is specifically designed for smaller businesses with total asset value up to ₹5 crore.
Business Interruption: The Coverage Most SMEs Skip
Property insurance pays to repair or replace damaged assets. It does not cover the income you lose while your business can’t operate. Business interruption insurance covers lost revenue, ongoing fixed costs (rent, salaries, EMIs), and the additional expense of operating from a temporary location during repairs. For businesses where even a few weeks of closure would be financially serious, this cover is often more important than the property insurance it pairs with.
Public Liability Insurance
If a customer, visitor, or delivery person is injured on your premises or as a result of your business activities, public liability insurance covers your legal costs and compensation liability. This applies to retail shops, restaurants, service providers who work at client locations, and any business with public-facing activities. Awareness of liability claims through consumer courts has grown significantly in India over the past few years.
Group Health Insurance for Your Team
Group health insurance for employees has become a key part of attracting and retaining staff — especially since the pandemic. Group policies typically offer lower per-head premiums than individual plans, and IRDAI regulations set minimum benefit standards for group covers. The choices of sum insured, whether to include employee families, and whether to offer top-up options significantly affect both cost and the value your employees see.
Cyber Insurance: An Emerging Necessity
As more Indian SMEs handle digital payments, store customer data in the cloud, and operate online, cyber risk has become real and growing. Cyber insurance covers losses from data breaches, ransomware attacks, online fraud, regulatory fines, and business interruption from system downtime. Cyber insurance penetration among Indian SMEs remains very low, even as the frequency of incidents rises. If you process digital payments or store customer data, this is worth evaluating.
Draco Insurance offers commercial and specialty insurance for businesses of all sizes. Visit dracoinsurance.in or call +91 7064106417 to discuss the right coverage for your business.
“Even if we do not talk about 5G (specifically), the security talent in general in the country is very sparse at the moment. We need to get more (security) professionals in the system”
Bharti Airtel, for example, has been preparing for 5G roll out by upskilling its professionals and offering them certification courses such as CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). The courses are offered based on skill and eligibility level free of cost.
