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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 18 April 2026 has approved the proposal for creation of a domestic insurance pool, namely ‘Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool’ (BMI pool) with a sovereign guarantee of Rs. 12,980 crores to facilitate continuous maritime insurance coverages. The pool ensures that Indian trade continues to have access to affordable insurance for vessels carrying cargo from any international origin to Indian ports and vice-versa, even when transiting volatile maritime corridors.
With increased global volatility and geopolitical instability, maritime trade has been impacted with increased risk of losses for cargo and vessels resulting in increased insurance costs and uncertainty in continuous availability of insurance. Further, there is high dependence of Indian vessels on International Group of Protection and Indemnity (IGP&I) Club for P&I insurance covering third-party liabilities like Oil pollution liability, Wreck removal, Cargo damage, Crew injury and repatriation, Collision liabilities and so on. Accordingly, there was a need for a domestic maritime risk covering pool to maintain sovereignty and continuity of trade in face of withdrawal of coverage due to sanctions or due to geopolitical tensions.
In the above backdrop, the Government has approved formation of ‘Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool’ (BMI pool) for Indian flagged or controlled vessels or vessels destined to or starting from India, backed by a sovereign guarantee. The pool would cover all maritime risks like Hull and Machinery, Cargo, P&I and War risk. The policies will be issued by insurers that are Pool members, using the combined underwriting capacity of the Pool, which would be around Rs.950 crore.